Luzerne County Republicans and Democrats will pick nominees in Tuesday’s primary

A total 174,642 Luzerne County voters — 90,434 Republicans and 84,208 Democrats — have the opportunity to choose their nominees for a range of offices in Tuesday’s primary election.

Although Pennsylvania has closed primaries, all voters of any or no affiliation in Nanticoke and Hazleton are permitted to vote Tuesday on referendums in their cities.

Turnout is typically lower in a municipal election, as opposed to a presidential year.

In the last municipal primary in May 2023, turnout was approximately the same for both political parties — 26.54% for Democrats and 26.44% for Republicans, analysis shows. Two years before that, in May 2021, a little over a quarter of registered voters ended up casting ballots, or 25.7%.

Voting at the polls

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

A list of all 186 polling places is posted on the election bureau page at luzernecounty.org.

Since the November general election, location changes have been made at polling places in Duryea Ward 3, Kingston Wards 1 and 2, Plains Township Ward 2, Wilkes-Barre Wards 19 and 20 and Wright Township districts 3 and 4.

After signing in on electronic poll books, voters make selections on touchscreen machines and then receive a paper ballot printout to verify their choices. This printout must be fed into a tabulator to lock in the vote.

Voters with any concerns should inform a poll worker on the spot so the judge can assess the situation and, if warranted, resolve it, officials said.

Provisional ballots

Paper provisional ballots are cast at polling places when workers determine additional voter verification is needed. The county reviews provisional ballots last during post-election adjudication to ensure the voters are properly registered and did not cast a second ballot by mail.

Instructions are important for provisional ballots. They must be placed in a secrecy envelope, which is then inserted in an outer envelope. Three signatures — two from the voter and one from the judge of elections — are required on the outer envelope for the vote to count.

To help voters, the county election board required the addition of yellow highlighting on lines that must be signed on provisional ballot outer envelopes.

The election bureau is highlighting the provisional envelopes signature lines by hand until the envelope supply is depleted. The highlighting will be pre-printed with the next order of new envelopes.

County Election Director Emily Cook said emergency ballots have been printed for all registered voters in each of the 186 precincts as a backup.

Mail ballots

Between 18,000 and 20,000 mail ballots have been issued to voters at their request, and more than 7,000 have been returned to date, Cook estimated.

Mail ballots must be physically in the election bureau by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Because postmarks do not count, voters returning ballots at this point should use a drop box instead of regular mail.

The county has two drop boxes in the lobby of county-owned buildings:

• Penn Place Building lobby, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre — Monday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Election Day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Broad Street Exchange Building, 100 W. Broad St., Hazleton — Monday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. This box is not available on Election Day.

A box also is set up inside the election bureau on the second floor of the Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre.

Mail ballot voters can check the status of their mail ballot on the state’s tracker at pavoterservices.pa.gov.

Voters who received alerts of ballot deficiencies can appear at the election bureau on Monday to submit a new ballot or fill out a paper provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day.

Mail voters who received but did not return their ballot also can bring the ballot package that was sent to them — the ballot and envelopes — to their polling place so it can be voided, allowing them to vote on the ballot marking device at their polling place.

Results

County results will be posted and updated at luzernecounty.org after the polls close.

The state’s electionreturns.pa.gov site will provide updated unofficial results in state races, which for this election would be two judicial seats in the Superior Court and Commonwealth Court.

Voters may call 570-825-1715 or email elections@luzernecounty.org to report any issues.

The county must issue an unofficial tally of ballots, including mail ones, by midnight on election night as a condition for its acceptance of a state election integrity grant.

State legislation authorizing this grant also requires participating counties to remain in place and continue tallying until the unofficial count is completed instead of halting the count and returning the next day, officials said.

Approximately 40 workers will be sworn in and trained Monday so they can hit the ground running at 7 a.m. Tuesday to perform the initial unsealing and processing of mail ballots — known as pre-canvassing — in Penn Place, Cook said.

Races

The official proclamation listing all races on Tuesday’s ballot is posted on the election page at luzernecounty.org.

The races with competition in the primary election include:

• Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judge

One seat is open, and two candidates – Tom Mosca and Mark Bufalino – are cross-filed to appear on both the Republican and Democratic ballots seeking a primary nomination.

• Luzerne County Council

Republican and Democratic voters will each select five nominees. Those 10 will then advance to the November general election, when all voters are free to select five of any affiliation.

Seven Democrats are running: Chris Belles, Steven M. Coslett, Tony Perzia, Johnny Price, Dawn Simmons, Emily Singh and Denise Williams. Nine Republicans are seeking that party’s five nominations: Thomas Dombroski, Ronald D. Knapp, Kevin Lescavage, John Lombardo, Jackie Scarcella, Brian Thornton, Stephen J. Urban, Rob Viars and Greg Wolovich.

• Magisterial District Judge 11-2-01

Three candidates are cross-filed to appear on both party ballots seeking the nomination to replace retiring Magisterial District Judge Joseph Carmody —Laura Dennis-Bovani, Robert J. Boyer and Matthew J. Carmody.

Ballot questions

Nanticoke voters will vote on a referendum asking if the city’s home rule charter should be amended to eliminate a consecutive, three-term limit for city council members.

Hazleton voters will decide if they want to convene a seven-member Government Study Commission to examine the city’s existing structure and, if warranted, draft and recommend a home rule charter. Twelve citizens are running for the seven study commission seats, and the seven with top votes will be seated if voters choose to activate the commission.