Susek starting as Luzerne County’s new election director Monday

Armed with 15 years of elections administration experience, Laflin resident Michael Susek will start work Monday as Luzerne County’s new election director.

The 43-year-old said his initial priorities will include completion of standard operating procedures, which had been identified as a need by the county administration, council’s past election inquiry committee and the volunteer citizen Election Board.

Susek also wants to bring leadership stability to the bureau, which had two directors come and go since Marissa Crispell resigned in September 2019.

County Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo, who hired Susek Thursday with input from the election board, has been drafting a list of election issues that must be addressed, including enhanced ballot proofing and a more proactive and timely completion of election requirements.

“We’re going to do rigorous proofing. That’s a standard best practice,” Susek said.

Susek’s 15 years of experience comes from work in three Colorado counties. He was an elections project lead and elections specialist in Larimer County, an assistant manager of elections in Arapahoe County and elections administrator/management analyst in the city and county of Broomfield.

In addition to managing employees, he has experience overseeing all aspects of elections, including the development of performance measurements and use of data and technology to improve procedures. He also is familiar with the Dominion Voting Systems equipment used here because Broomfield had the same system.

Susek said he and his wife, the former Kristen Zurek, both grew up in Plains Township and chose to return home in 2020 so their 4-year-old son, Julian, would be raised around extended family in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

When Susek learned a Colorado election field acquaintance, Jennifer Morrell, had been retained through her consulting company, The Elections Group, to assist with Luzerne County’s Nov. 2 general election, he reached out to see if he could be of assistance.

The Elections Group accepted the offer, and Susek assisted with work that included poll worker training, post-election audits and the launching of a new mass communication tool to simultaneously send mass alerts to all poll workers. Susek also sat through much of the election board’s post-election adjudication proceedings, jotting down detailed notes of the issues it encountered with mail and provisional ballots.

“It was a really good opportunity to test the waters and meet the staff and meet the board and see how things are going to determine if it was a good fit and whether I wanted to apply for the director position,” Susek said.

Susek said he had a positive experience interacting with the election bureau staff and looks forward to “earning their trust” and assessing their specific duties.

He also wants to work closely with the election board.

“I look at the board’s role as our conduit to the residents and citizens of Luzerne County. I’m going to want their feedback for the sake of transparency and openness,” Susek said.

A 1996 graduate and co-valedictorian of Coughlin High School, Susek graduated from Moravian College in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and philosophy, with honors in philosophy. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Colorado State University in 2004 and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado at Denver in 2008. In graduate school, he completed papers on the Help America Vote Act and the Federal Election Campaign Act.

Through continuing education, Susek became a certified election official in Colorado and has taken several courses in elections administration through the Election Center at Auburn University.

Susek will receive $64,500, which is the same compensation that had been paid to the last two directors.

“I wish Mike the best in this very important role,” Crocamo said. ”Luzerne County is fortunate to have such an experienced and well-rounded individual for this position.”

Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said the entire bipartisan board supported Susek’s hiring.

“I’m very happy with him taking on the directorship of the bureau,” Williams said.

Williams described his qualifications as “excellent.”

“I was able to work with him closely during the election and was very impressed with his knowledge of elections and input on election matters,” Williams said.

Eryn Harvey, who has been working as county deputy election director since March, also had applied for the position.