Bipartisan frustration over paper debacle as Luzerne County Election Board begins adjudication

Luzerne County Republican Party Chairman P.J. Pribula told the county Election Board Wednesday he never fathomed in his “wildest dreams” that the county would run out of paper in an election.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Pribula said during public comment at the opening of the board’s Nov. 8 general election adjudication process.

Pribula said he started receiving calls about paper shortages at 9 a.m. and was further alarmed that polling places did not have enough paper provisional ballots to provide voters as a backup for emergency situations.

The situation now leaves candidates from both political parties unsure if they have truly won or lost, he said. Pribula also asked the board to examine reports he’s received that there were temporary workers in the election bureau processing ballots even though they had not been sworn in and that a request to purchase paper for the election made in October was not executed.

“This is beyond politics,” Pribula said, describing the situation as an “embarrassment” and saying it created an appearance of impropriety.

The five-citizen bipartisan volunteer election board will be seeking answers on what led to paper shortages that caused an unknown number of voters to be turned away and a court-approved extension of county voting from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

It should be noted the board does not directly manage staff or the ordering of paper.

During the adjudication process, the election board painstakingly reviews flagged mail ballots and provisional paper ballots to determine if they will be accepted or rejected.

Pribula and county Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Bozinski participated in the adjudication process, providing input before the board voted on each category of ballots.

For example, the board voted Wednesday to reject 144 mail ballots without handwritten dates on the outer envelopes and 40 with dates outside the period from the mailing of ballots and the election.

Another 204 mail ballots were thrown out because they were not inserted into blank inner secrecy envelopes as required. The board also rejected more than 40 ballots with identifying marks on the secrecy envelopes.

The board wrapped up the day’s adjudication shortly after 4 p.m. and will resume Thursday and subsequent days as needed.

Provisional ballots were not yet tackled by the board.

Republican Congressional candidate Jim Bognet said he was informed there are potentially 10,000 to 20,000 provisional ballots that must be reviewed by the board.

The election bureau said it does not yet have a tally.

Bognet said his race is “very close” with a margin of several thousand votes, and the board’s decision could decide “who controls the U.S. Congress the next two years.”

“The eyes of the nation are upon us to get this right,” Bognet said, adding that his office was besieged by nearly 1,000 Election Day complaints about the county’s voting problems.

Representing the Republican National Committee, Attorney Kathleen A. Gallagher told the board she has received reports that voters at some polling places were instructed to vote on pieces of paper because their polling places ran out of paper for the ballot marking devices and provisional ballots.

Gallagher said the law requires the county to accept printed or written votes cast at polling places if a different method or format is used due to a system failure. The only exception would be a written vote selection in which the voter’s name is written on the sheet, compromising their privacy.

Gallagher said she is requesting a count of outstanding votes outside of those from ballot marking devices and provisional ballots.

Bognet’s attorney, Rebecca Warren, who ran his election integrity assistance phone line, said all provisional ballots should be counted.

Citizen Theodore Fitzgerald said the paper problem gave the county a “black eye” and called for better management of the election bureau.

“We have to clear this up,” he said.

Also speaking during public comment, Chelsea Strub, of WNEP-TV, said she arrived at her Harveys Lake polling place at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and was informed by workers there was no more paper. Strub said she insisted on a provisional ballot because the polling place was attempting to use computer paper for the ballot marking devices that was not approved for use in the devices. Strub said she was not afforded a private spot to fill out the provisional ballot and was called a conspiracy theorist by an election worker.

Election Board member Alyssa Fusaro described another concern during a break in Wednesday’s adjudication, saying she was kicked out of the election bureau Wednesday morning because she discovered two temporary workers handling the contents of judge of election bags, unsupervised, even though they told her they had not been sworn in.

Fusaro said she searched the garbage can in their area and found voter lists discarded and was concerned relevant information would not be preserved.

Fusaro said she reported the matter to the county District Attorney’s Office.

County Controller Walter Griffith also attended a portion of Wednesday’s adjudication and said he will be arguing that his office should be conducting an investigation of what occurred with the election.

County Manager Randy Robertson said Tuesday night he had asked county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce to perform a review.

Griffith said he believes the responsibility should fall on the controller’s office, with the understanding he would immediately report any discoveries of potential criminal activity to Sanguedolce.