Luzerne County judge rejects election recount request

Luzerne County won’t have to recount all May 18 primary Republican ballots in the county council race, a judge decided Tuesday.

Ronald Knapp, who lost a Republican nomination for county council by 57 votes, had filed paperwork seeking a hand recount and reconciliation.

The county argued Knapp’s request must be rejected because his filing did not meet legal requirements. A recount would take the election bureau a week or two and require assistance from other departments, officials said.

After hearing from both sides Tuesday, county Court of Common Pleas Judge Thomas Burke denied the recount.

Burke said Knapp, who was representing himself, failed to comply with some fundamental legal requirements, including a state law mandate to post a bond or cash based on the number of machines involved in the recount.

The judge said he admires any citizens willing to run for office and tries to provide some latitude with litigation filers representing themselves. However, Burke said judges take an oath to uphold the law, and he cannot overlook fatal legal defects in Knapp’s filing.

County Assistant Solicitor Michael Butera told the judge Knapp did not provide specific details about any alleged fraud or errors or meet legal mandates to submit notarized verification from at least three voters or provide a deposit of $50 in cash or a $100 bond per voting machine.

Butera elaborated after the proceeding, saying the deposit is a security that the county returns to a recount requester if the recount results in a vote result change. If the tally remains the same, the county keeps the security as compensation for the additional work.

The deposit would likely be on the approximately 250 scanners used countywide because they tabulate the results, as opposed to the more than 700 ballot marking tablets that voters use to make selections and generate a printout, officials said. These printouts must be scanned into the tabulators for a vote to be cast.

In the countywide council race, the cash deposit equates to $12,500 for the scanners.

Knapp said he had $50 with him but couldn’t deposit that much per machine.

Burke said he didn’t make the state law mandating the deposit but is sworn to make sure that law is upheld.

In his recount request, Knapp also “flagrantly misquoted” a court ruling in a different Election Day filing by the county Republican party related to the the mislabeling of Republican ballots as Democratic ones, Burke said.

Knapp presented language from the party’s initial filing as if it was part of the judge’s order, even though it was “merely a set of allegations,” the judge said. This wording was not in the final settlement agreement and resulting stipulation and order issued by a judge, Burke said.

Interrupting Burke several times, Knapp said he is a “civilian trying to get accuracy.”

He also said the recount could be a “litmus test” to restore faith in the election results and that he is putting himself “on the line” because a recount could cause his results to remain the same or go up or down.

“I think it’s a fair request, and I think it’s absolutely necessary,” Knapp said of a recount.

After the verdict, Knapp said he was “happy to go to bat” for the 8,546 voters who chose him and is now “looking forward to” his campaign for a Nanticoke city race he also sought during the primary.

Knapp ended up securing a Republican nomination to run for one of two open Nanticoke council seats in the November general election. No nominee is listed for the second Republican seat, and Joseph H. Nalepa and William Brown won the Democratic nominations.

With no more uncertainty over the county council recount, the county Election Board plans to certify the remaining primary election results during its virtual meeting Wednesday night.

A link to attend the 6 p.m. election board meeting is posted under the “ABC meetings online” link under council’s authorities, boards and commissions section at luzernecounty.org.