During Friday’s post-election adjudication, Luzerne County Election Bureau representatives, at left, presented recommendations to the county Election Board, at right, on which provisional ballots and flagged mail ballots should be accepted and rejected.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County Election Director Emily Cook, at rear, discusses post-election adjudication issues Friday with county Assistant Solicitor Gene Molino and Deputy Election Chief Clerk Amanda Latoski-Hon.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County Election Board member Roxanne Arreguin, at right, counts flagged ballots during Friday’s post-election adjudication as fellow members observe. From left, Albert Schlosser, Audrey Serniak, and Chairwoman Christine Boyle.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre resident Bob Caroso, who has been actively monitoring Luzerne County elections for decades, observes Friday’s post-election adjudication.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Republican Alyssa Fusaro, seated in the front at left, and Democrat Mary Ann Petyak served as representatives of their parties during Friday’s Luzerne County primary election adjudication as citizen Linda Joseph, sitting behind them, looks on.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County Election Board members review flagged ballots during Friday’s post-election adjudication. Board members, from left: Albert Schlosser, Audrey Serniak, Chairwoman Christine Boyle, and Roxanne Arreguin.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County Election Board Chairwoman Christine Boyle, at right, administers an oath to Democrat Chris Brawley and Republican T.J. Baloga during Friday’s post-primary adjudication. When necessary, such as in cases of damaged ballots, Brawley and Baloga transpose voter selections onto new ballots so they can be fed into tabulators for tallying — a task they perform in public view.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County Deputy Election Director Steve Hahn unseals ballots that the county Election Board accepted during Friday’s post-primary adjudication.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County’s Election Board accepted 129 primary election provisional ballots and 18 flagged mail ballots during Friday’s post-election adjudication.
The board also rejected 85 provisional ballots and 105 mail ballots due to deficiencies during the public session at the county Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Adjudication will resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday, with the continued processing of write-in votes and other matters.
Paper provisional ballots are cast at polling places, typically when workers determine additional voter verification is needed. The county reviews provisional ballots last to ensure the voters are properly registered and did not cast a second ballot by mail.
The 129 provisional ballots were accepted because they had no deficiencies, the board concluded. The only caveat was that 24 voted in the wrong precinct, which means only selections that were on the ballot in their correct precinct will be counted.
Among the reasons voters’ provisional ballots were rejected, officials said:
• 48 were not registered as Democrats or Republicans. Pennsylvania has closed primaries, meaning voters with no party or other party affiliations don’t get to nominate which candidates advance to the general election.
• Five already cast mail ballots.
• One was not registered to vote.
• Five were registered to vote in other counties.
• 21 did not place their ballots in the required inner secrecy envelopes.
• Five did not sign the outer envelope.
Mail ballots
Most of the rejected mail ballots — 63 — stemmed from voters failing to sign the outer return envelopes.
Another 21 were missing inner secrecy envelopes, while three were not placed inside outer return envelopes.
Sixteen had signature errors in the affirmation section that must be filled out if a disabled voter needs assistance.
Two voters did not return the actual ballot in their packet.
The board has adjudicated the same deficiencies in past elections.
Results
Vote tallies from the accepted ballots will be uploaded to the county’s public election results database at luzernecounty.org next week after write-in tallies have been completed, said county Election Director Emily Cook.
Additional sessions will be scheduled as necessary to complete the process, which also includes audits and the preparation of a reconciliation report.
Adjudication is held on the third floor (courtroom A) at Penn Place, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre.
There was no public comment on any election matters at the opening of Friday’s adjudication.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
