Luzerne County keeps Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton drop boxes for Nov. 4 election

Luzerne County will again provide mail ballot drop boxes inside two county-owned buildings in Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre for the Nov. 4 general election, a county election board majority decided Wednesday.

It is the same drop box plan used for the May 20 primary election.

The box in the Penn Place Building lobby in Wilkes-Barre captures photographs of both the face of the person at the box and each side of the envelope inserted along with the date and time the images were captured.

Purchased for $12,000 from Runbeck Election Services, the box also has multiple points of internal fire suppression in the event an explosive material is somehow inserted through the opening. The slot itself is fitted to the width of a mail ballot envelope to prevent the insertion of more than one ballot at a time.

County Election Director Emily Cook said prior to the meeting the box “worked very well,” accurately tracking information in the pilot program and “resolved a lot of concerns” about security.

As in the primary, a standard mailbox-style drop box will be set up in the Broad Street Exchange Building in downtown Hazleton for the general election.

Cook said she does not believe the expense of a Runbeck drop box is warranted at the Broad Street Exchange because it typically has the lowest usage, but that could change in the future.

Board member Rick Morelli asked why the board was voting again, because nothing changed.

Board Chairwoman Christine Boyle said confirmation was required because the last vote in April was specific to the primary. Going forward, the board won’t be voting on drop boxes unless there are changes, Boyle said.

Four board members — Boyle, Morelli, Albert Schlosser and Daniel Schramm — confirmed the drop box plan.

Board Vice Chairwoman Alyssa Fusaro, one of two Republicans on the board, voted no and has said the boxes are not mandated through legislation to comply with statewide election uniformity requirements.

Morelli, the other Republican board member, has said there were discussions last year about expanding to five drop box locations and that providing only two is a good compromise.

The board requires video surveillance cameras in both county buildings to record footage of the drop boxes throughout their use.

Cook said Wednesday she is aiming to start sending mail ballots to the outside printing vendor by the end of next week as part of her effort to get them in the hands of voters as early as possible.

Details about the available drop box hours will be publicly released around the time they are activated.

Cook also updated the board on the bureau’s response to a bipartisan election board spot-check of drop boxes announced at last month’s meeting.

Boyle and Fusaro had reviewed some Penn Place drop box photographs and video surveillance footage from the primary election and found 36 instances in which voters deposited more than one ballot.

They concluded most appeared to involve voters dropping off ballots with the same family surname or physical address, Boyle had said. Of the 36 instances: 31 dropped off two ballots; three dropped off three; and two dropped off four.

Cook said Wednesday she has referred the information to the county District Attorney’s Office for its review.

Campaign finance reports

In another matter Wednesday, Cook briefed the board on the election bureau’s new procedure for the public to obtain campaign finance reports.

The bureau had decided in June that it would require the public to submit a form to view campaign finance reports instead of posting them online.

Cook had said caution was raised about the online posting of home addresses of candidates and elected officials during a conference for eastern Pennsylvania election office officials held shortly after the June shooting deaths of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at their residence and another shooting that seriously wounded state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, at their house.

Cook had said the bureau does not have the manpower to redact addresses for multiple reports annually, dating back years. County Controller Walter Griffith had proposed hiring an outside vendor to handle the posting and redaction.

Cook told the board on Wednesday that the bureau compared packages from two outside vendors and is in the process of entering into a contract with one. Work to efficiently redact addresses will begin as soon as the contract is approved, she said.

Pittston ballot question

The board also approved a Pittston City home rule charter amendment referendum that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.

City voters will decide if they want to change the elected treasurer/tax collector position to an appointed department director when the current elected term expires the end of 2027. If a majority of voters approve the referendum, the qualifications, powers and duties of the director position would be “adjusted to correspond with a position held by a city employee,” an accompanying explanation said.

Fusaro voted against the ballot question because she did not believe it was clear enough for voters. The related explanation appears in legal notices and at polling places but not on the ballot.

Other board members agreed but opted to keep the question as submitted because Cook said a change would force the bureau to redo ballot proofing and other work based on the way the current voting system is designed.

Cook said such ballot alterations won’t significantly set the bureau back if the county switches to a new voting system from Hart InterCivic — a change county council is set to vote on next week.

Even if the county changes voting systems, Boyle said efforts should be made to encourage municipalities to submit ballot questions earlier, when possible, for board review.