Luzerne County’s electronic ballot marking devices have a wording error in the Supreme Court retention questions

Luzerne County’s electronic ballot marking devices have a wording error in the Supreme Court retention questions, but county officials say the yes-no selections made by voters won’t be impacted, according to a statement from county Manager Romilda Crocamo.

Crocamo said the machines were programmed by the county’s voting equipment supplier, Dominion Voting Systems.

“Based upon our research, all information and proofs sent throughout the pre-election process to Dominion included the correct retention questions for all Justices of the Supreme Court,” her announcement said.

There are three state Supreme Court retention questions on the ballot asking voters if Christine Donohue, Kevin M. Dougherty and David Wecht should be retained for an additional term as Supreme Court justices.

The Supreme Court heading is correct on the ballot marking devices. However, the question itself asks voters if the three should be retained as Superior Court justices, Crocamo said.

In response, the county directed polling places to post the following message at the county’s 186 polling places:

“Supreme Court Retention Questions Notice

The ballot marking devices refer to the Supreme Court Retention Candidates as Justices of the Superior Court instead of Justices of the Supreme Court. Please refer to the paper ballots posted in your polling site, which include the correct language.”

Crocamo said the machines are still programmed to record yes votes as approving the retention of Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht, while no votes would be cast as rejecting retention for the three.

“This will not impact your vote on this question, and your vote will count,” Crocamo said.

The county is working with the Pennsylvania Department of State to rectify the situation, she said.

The error did not appear on mail ballots or other paper ballots, she said.

A hearing was held on the matter Tuesday afternoon in the county Court of Common Pleas in response to a filing from Attorney Neil O’Donnell on behalf of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and county Democratic Party.

The filing sought an order directing the county Election Board to recognize the matter as a “manifest error,” immediately post the properly worded question in each polling place, and instruct each judge of elections to verbally advise voters that Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht are seeking retention to the Supreme Court.

County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stefanie J. Salavantis, who presided over the matter, agreed to issue an order providing these instructions.

County Assistant Solicitor Gene Molino appeared in court representing the election board and was accompanied by county Election Director Emily Cook.

Cook said after the hearing she was in the process of sending a mass communication to judges of elections directing them to personally inform voters of the correct wording as they escorted them to the ballot marking devices.

O’Donnell said the party was seeking the only relief available “during this late hour on Election Day.”

Molino emphasized the county had immediately taken corrective action by posting the message at polling places, issuing a public statement and alerting both the state and judges of elections.

Molino questioned the need for a court order when corrective action already was implemented, saying he was concerned the Democratic Party was “kind of using the court to make a statement.”

O’Donnell said the county election bureau has a “history of errors” and that his request to the court was “not a show.”

“I don’t know how these things keep happening,” O’Donnell said of the error.

Salavantis kept the focus on the matter at hand and said she wants to ensure all candidates on the ballot have an opportunity to reach voters.

Crocamo said Tuesday evening she went to her West Hazleton polling place and received the instructions from the election workers about the race. She noted the retention questions were correctly worded with Supreme Court on the ballot that was printed from the electronic marking device. That printout is then fed into a tabulator/scanner.

Crocamo reiterated that the county election bureau was not at fault.

“I want to be clear. We provided all the correct information to Dominion,” Crocamo said.

The Department of State issued this statement:

“The Department of State is in contact with Luzerne County regarding the retention questions on their Election Day ballots. Although the justices appear in a section clearly marked as ‘Supreme Court,’ the wording of the retention questions incorrectly identifies the court as Superior, not Supreme.

As county officials stated, voters’ selections on these questions are recorded correctly, and they will be counted correctly.

The Department will work closely with Luzerne officials and their vendor in the coming weeks to identify additional measures to prevent similar errors from occurring during future elections.”