Luzerne County reports no major issues in Tuesday’s primary

Luzerne County Election Director Emily Cook paused shortly before the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday to assess the day.

“So far, so good. There was nothing that raised any major concerns on our part,” Cook said.

Voters marked their selections on paper ballots rather than touchscreen ballot-marking devices as part of the switch to new leased voting equipment from Hart InterCivic that took effect in Tuesday’s election. Voters fed the ballots into a tabulator to be cast, as they did with the past ballot-marking device printouts.

Cook said she did not receive any complaints about the paper ballots.

“The paper worked out pretty well as far as I hear. We had no negative feedback on it,” she said.

Turnout was low, she said.

According to unofficial results at 11 p.m., with all 186 precincts reporting, 47,023 ballots were cast.

A total of 175,316 county residents were eligible to vote in Tuesday’s primary election — 91,205 Republicans and 84,111 Democrats, the state’s latest registration tally posted Monday shows. Pennsylvania has closed primaries, meaning only Republican and Democratic voters get to nominate which candidates advance to the general election.

As a result, the unofficial turnout equates to 26.8%. Tuesday’s tally did not break down votes cast by party.

In the last gubernatorial primary election four years ago, county turnout was 42.88% for Republicans and 30.99% for Democrats based on each party’s total registration at that time.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo said the county is “proud to celebrate another successful election,” indicating credit starts with the “dedicated professionals of the Luzerne County Election Bureau.”

“Under the steady and capable leadership of Director Emily Cook, our Election Bureau once again delivered an election that Luzerne County residents can be proud of: one that is safe, secure, fair, and transparent from start to finish,” Crocamo said.

Cook and the county Election Board have “built a foundation of public trust that is essential to our democratic process,” she said.

She thanked judges of elections and poll workers across the county, saying they give their time, patience, and energy so their neighbors can exercise their right to vote.

Finally, she praised county workers — “a dedicated group of public servants who give far more than is asked of them” in a “spirit of collaboration that crossed departmental lines.”

“From our Elections Bureau, whose staff anchored every phase of the process, to colleagues in Information Technology, Facilities, Emergency Management, and beyond, county employees showed up, stepped up, and delivered,” Crocamo said. “Whether the work was visible to the public or quietly carried out behind the scenes, every contribution mattered.”

Prior county Controller Walter Griffith, who worked as a poll watcher in Kingston Township, said he did not observe any problems and believes the election “went pretty well” based on his observations.

He received positive feedback on the poll worker training and was not aware of any issues with the use of paper ballots.

“I will say I am pleasantly surprised, so kudos to the bureau,” Griffith said.

Griffith said he is pleased the county used color coding by issuing paper ballots with a blue label on top for Democrats and a red one for Republicans — a measure he had advocated.

“It’s all about accountability because everybody is so skeptical,” he said.

Griffith said he looks forward to post-election audit reports that will show how many ballots were voided, or “spoiled,” because it may show if some voters had issues acclimating to the switch to paper.

Voters were informed they could request a new ballot if they made a mistake, selected more than the allowable number of candidates (overvoting), or incorrectly scribbled, known as an extraneous mark.

When new ballots are issued, poll workers must write “spoiled” across both sides of the first ballot, cross out the QR code and barcode, and place those ballots in a spoiled ballot envelope kept in secure storage for auditing, according to county Assistant Solicitor Gene Molino.

At the state level, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said the primary “ran smoothly with few issues reported by counties.”

“Thanks to hundreds of county election officials and approximately 45,000 poll workers, Pennsylvania held another safe and secure election,” Schmidt said.