Republican Alyssa Fusaro details election concerns in end of term election board report to Luzerne County Council

Republican Alyssa Fusaro sent Luzerne County Council a lengthy report Thursday detailing concerns she encountered during her four years serving on the county Election Board.

Fusaro, who wrapped up her board term at the end of 2025, said she invested weeks compiling documentation for the “end of term” report because she wants to make officials aware of issues so they can be corrected or prevented.

“Up until now, I have been mostly silent on these issues for fear of retaliation. I wish I could say I made a difference while on the Board, but I felt the louder I spoke on an issue, the more attacks I had to personally endure. With that said, my mission changed from one of speaking out to one of documenting,” Fusaro said in the introduction.

Three issues Fusaro presented stemmed from the busy 2024 presidential election.

She listed examples of 20 citizens she said were unable to vote in that general election because their voter registration applications were not processed in a timely manner.

In one case, she said the voter emailed his signature to the election bureau so his online application could be approved. That voter cast a provisional paper ballot at the polling place, but it could not be accepted because his registration was not processed, her report said.

“Though the Presidential Election can be a tumultuous time, we must ensure that all voters are afforded the opportunity to vote,” she wrote.

Regarding mail ballots in the 2024 general election, Fusaro said she understands the county has no control over the U.S. Postal Service.

“Most mail-in ballot applicants who had issues with receiving their ballots were handled properly by the office either overnighting ballots or instructing the voters to vote ‘on demand’ in the office. However, far too many were just ignored, not processed or processed far too late for the voters to receive them,” she wrote.

She presented the case of a man who had applied for a mail ballot early because he was entering state police training in Hershey, but Fusaro said he never received the ballot and was unable to vote.

County Election Director Emily Cook has said measures were implemented since 2024 to speed up the processing of both registrations and mail ballots.

In the third 2024 general election matter, Fusaro said some returned mail ballots were not promptly processed through the Agilis Mail Ballot Sorting System so that they could be recorded as received in the state’s online ballot tracker used by voters.

“This would have eliminated the hundreds of voters calling to see why their ballots were not showing as ‘received’ online. It would have also eliminated these voters coming back to the office to find out what was going on,” Fusaro wrote, adding that the bureau “worked extremely hard to process as many voters as they possibly could.”

Fusaro had raised this issue during the December board meeting.

Cook had replied that the bureau staff was bombarded during the high-turnout presidential election and worked late into the evenings to catch up on backlogs.

As with all elections, the bureau performed a post-election review of successes and failures, and Cook had said the staff was “painfully aware of what did not go well” after the 2024 general.

The bureau now has a dedicated team to process mail ballots through the sorting machine “throughout the day and every day,” Cook had said, adding that there is “always an issue” with the state online ballot tracker that is no fault of the county.

Drop boxes

Although she remains opposed to mail ballot drop boxes, Fusaro said she sees a need for them.

“It is only because of the lack of regulatory practices and the failure to adhere to the practices already put in place that I am against them,” Fusaro wrote. “There has been ‘state guidance’ but no clear state legislation.”

For example, she cited the election bureau’s failure to properly use drop box chain-of-custody forms for drop boxes implemented before the November 2021 election.

“The board reviews these forms every election, but they are rarely filled out properly,” Fusaro asserted, noting sheriff deputies are careful and meticulous in filling out the forms involving their collection and transport of the ballots. “It is the office staff that fails to fill them out properly. I truly believe that this is not intentional, but rather an oversight or lack of time.”

She also said locked and sealed bags are not used for ballots removed from the Penn Place Building lobby drop box in Wilkes-Barre for transport to secure storage upstairs.

“The drop boxes have become part of our election process. I believe that we should do everything in our power to make the voters feel as though they are not only secure, but that the process of collecting them is secure,” Fusaro wrote.

Board role

The volunteer Election Board is a high-profile independent body because it oversees election procedures, makes determinations on flagged ballots and write-in votes, and certifies election results.

However, Fusaro said continued disagreements over the powers of the election board, election bureau, and administration since the 2012 implementation of the county’s home rule structure have made her question “what the purpose of the board is in the first place.”

“They sometimes will inform us of something that has changed, but only because they need our vote and signatures for the action to be legal; and often, these decisions are left to the very last minute, forcing the hands of those on the board,” Fusaro wrote.

Poll worker payments

Fusaro said poll workers, the “lifeblood of our elections,” were not paid for at least a month after the last three elections.

“Each election cycle, we struggle to find poll workers. I feel that it would be much easier to find workers if we were able to pay our Election Day workers in a timely manner,” she wrote.

Cook has said the processing is slowed because some of the 1,200 poll workers fail to formally submit a required Internal Revenue Service W-9 form and pay slip documenting their work, so individual checks can be prepared for the entire group as a batch. Automatic payments are not feasible because some poll workers cancel at the last minute or leave early due to unforeseen circumstances, she has said.

Treatment questioned

Fusaro said she is “under no illusion” that her report will change anything but sees it as her “duty” to share her experiences.

Her report said she was falsely accused of making a derogatory racial slur in 2022 through the release of a report that did not result in her removal from the board, as the report intended.

She also maintained that a county security officer told her about a drop box issue during the 2025 primary election season, and Fusaro later received a letter from the county “insinuating” that she was harassing the officers.

“I have been persecuted, lied to, had false allegations brought against me for simply seeking the truth, condemned, and had my name drug through the mud,” Fusaro said. “It is my hope that those who replace the outgoing members have a better experience.”

She said she decided to apply for the seat due to issues she witnessed in the 2020 election.

“This was truly a labor of love for our county, our state, and our country,” Fusaro wrote.

Council Chairman Jimmy Sabatino acknowledged receipt of Fusaro’s report and said he will promptly review it.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo said the report was not sent to the administration, but staff will request a copy and review it to provide a response, if warranted.