Luzerne County elections officials turn focus to November

Luzerne County’s election bureau already has started preparing for the high-turnout Nov. 3 general election, the office’s deputy director, Mary Beth Steininger, told the county Election Board during its virtual meeting Wednesday.

The bureau plans to start training poll workers on the new voting machines and other election procedures at the end of August and into September, Steininger said.

Few voters used the new machines for the first time in the June 2 primary because they were reserved only for the disabled. The county temporarily reduced the number of polling locations and required non-disabled voters to cast paper ballots in the primary due to coronavirus-related difficulties training and securing poll workers.

On Nov. 3, the plan is to return to the pre-pandemic polling places and use the new machines for all in-person voting.

Voters still have the option to cast ballots by mail, with no excuse required, and approximately 36,400 county mail-in voters already checked a box on their applications indicating they want to receive a mail-in ballot again for the November general, officials said.

Voters using the new machines from Dominion Voting Systems Inc. will make selections on computerized devices similar to the way they have in the past. But instead of touching a box on the screen to cast their ballots, they will receive a paper printout to verify their selections before they feed the paper into a tabulator to be read and saved in compliance with a state mandate.

Election Board members asked Steininger how the bureau plans to ensure it has enough poll workers on Nov. 3.

Steininger said the office will contact both past and new poll workers to build a roster.

“Hopefully we’ll be in decent shape going in,” Steininger said.

Board member Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt said she has compiled a list of some voters interested in serving as poll workers and suggested the bureau label its recruitment as a search for “Democracy heroes.”

The election day compensation, increased by the board this year, is $200 for judges and $195 for clerks, machine operators and inspectors. Information is posted on the election page at www.luzernecounty.org.

Steininger said the primary seemed like the “election that wouldn’t end” because of additional work processing the mail-in ballots and the Election Board’s need to individually review thousands of write-in votes, provisional ballots and discrepancies.

Solicitor Michael Butera said he’s been involved in elections for 51 years and described the amount of work involved in the primary as “incredible.”

“I’ve never seen a Board of Elections work harder than you did — never ever,” Butera said.

In the end, a total 64,308 votes were cast — 34,896 Democrat and 29,412 Republican, Steininger said.

Other actions

In other business Wednesday, the board — which also includes Vice Chairman Peter Ouellette, Keith Gould and Audrey Serniak — voted to:

• Publicly seek applications from citizens interested in filling a fifth board seat vacated by the resignation of Jose Adames. The fifth board seat is filled by the four board members and serves as board chair, according to the county’s home rule charter.

• Hold a public meeting at 4:30 p.m. July 22 to interview applicants for the vacancy and possibly appoint someone to the seat.

The board also announced plans to:

• Continue livestreaming board meetings after in-person meetings resume due to the increased attendance sparked through the online virtual sessions.

• Adopt a written document outlining the board’s role and responsibilities — an issue that has been debated, with conflicting views, since the county’s switch to home rule in 2012. Ouellette said the board’s proposed document has been submitted to Butera and the county’s law office for review, with the possibility it will be approved and released at the July 22 board meeting.