Luzerne County provides update on new voting machines, drop boxes

Luzerne County’s new voting system equipment is scheduled for delivery within the next few weeks, said county Election Director Emily Cook.

A plan is also in place for the county’s two mail ballot drop boxes in Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton, Cook said during Wednesday’s county Election Board meeting.

Regarding the voting equipment, the county had agreed in September to lease new scanners/tabulators and ballot marking devices from Hart InterCivic for use starting in 2026. The county announced in January that it must temporarily use the current version of Hart’s equipment in the May 19 primary because the company was still awaiting required state certification for its new Vanguard model.

Voters will now fill out selections on paper ballots and then feed them into Hart InterCivic scanners for tallying, reducing the equipment needed. Previously, voters made selections on computerized touchscreen ballot-marking devices, printed the ballot for review, and then fed it into a tabulator.

One Hart InterCivic electronic ballot marking device must still be set up at each of the 186 voting precincts to accommodate those with disabilities.

As a result of the delay in receiving the Vanguard model, Hart InterCivic must provide full staff training twice — for both the system that will be used in the primary and again upon certification of the new one, Cook has said.

Cook said she and other election staffers started training on the Hart system on Wednesday. She recently posted a sign-up schedule for poll work training on the county election page at luzernecounty.org, with those sessions starting April 21.

Drop boxes

The drop box in the county’s Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre did not capture photographs of voters depositing ballots as promised for the November general election.

Runbeck Election Services sold the box to the county for $12,000 as part of a pilot program implemented for last year’s May primary election. Cook told the board that Runbeck representatives believe there was an issue with an internal component that prevented the primary and backup storage of recorded photographs, indicating that issue has been addressed in a non-pilot model of its drop box.

In response, Cook said Runbeck will be providing the most updated version of its box to the county at no additional charge, with delivery expected the first week of April.

The standard mailbox-style box that has been set up in the county-owned Broad Street Business Exchange Building in Hazleton since 2023 will remain there for the primary, Cook said. The county is in the process of selling the building to a private company, but the new owner is willing to continue hosting the box, officials said.

Drop boxes must be under video surveillance and anchored to the floor or a wall to prevent their unauthorized removal as specified in Election Board protocol.