ACLU calls for repeal of new policy of Lucerne District Electoral Commission

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is calling on the Lucerne County Board of Elections to reconsider last week’s decision to change the way voters can deal with mail-in ballots on Election Day, including special elections affecting part of the county on January 31st.

“The council’s actions are inconsistent with federal or state constitutional and statutory law and create a high and unacceptable risk of disenfranchisement of voters,” Marian K. Schneider, senior ACLU voting rights policy adviser, and Witold J. Walczak, legal director, said in a letter. which the ACLU sent to the newspaper.

Electoral Commissioner Alyssa Fusaro proposed a change requiring voters to report to the Electoral Office in Wilkes-Barre if they don’t have enough mail-in ballots, instead of the old option of voting in advance at their polling place.

Fusaro argued that pre-ballots cannot be a corrective option because they contain evidence that the pre-ballots are the only ballots the voter has cast in the election. State law also states that a pre-ballot should not be counted if the voter’s mail-in ballot was received by the county election commission in a timely manner, she said.

Election Commissioners Denise Williams and Audrey Serniak said the state has issued guidance that pre-ballots are an option, noting that the county checks pre-ballots last to make sure mail-in ballots from these voters haven’t been counted. due to defects such as missing outer envelope signatures or dates.

Vice Chairman Jim Mangan agreed with Fusaro that affected voters should contact the electoral bureau to rectify the situation, and added that voters should be more aware of mail-in ballots correctly in order for their votes to be counted.

Board member Danny Schramm voted with Mangan and Fusaro to have voters show up at the bureau, while Williams and Serniak voted against.

Williams, chairman of the board, said the change would be a “real hurdle” for voters notified of mail-in ballot defects on Election Day, especially those who live in remote areas far from Wilkes-Barre.

Approximately 4,800 voters have requested mail-in ballots for the Jan. 31 snap election, and there is no way to know how many of them will have disqualifying shortcomings.

While the Electoral Bureau began to notify voters of some defects in the outer envelope before Election day at the general election in November, some defects not noted until on Election Day as mail ballots are processed. In the latter case, the election commission provides lists of defective ballots to political parties on election day so that these representatives can attempt to contact voters.

ACLU response

The ACLU said it appreciates the Electoral Commission’s willingness to establish a notification and correction process for voters whose postal ballot envelopes are defective, but said the process should co-exist with the advance ballot, not replace it.

Board members who voted to bar voters from casting advance ballots appeared to mistakenly believe that the Pennsylvania Electoral Code prohibited voters from voting by advance ballot if they had already submitted a mail-in or absentee ballot to the bureau, the report said.

“On the contrary, it is not a violation of the Electoral Code that voters submit a preliminary ballot if the previously sent by mail or absentee ballot is not counted due to a defect on the outer envelope,” the message says.

He pointed to a section of the law cited by Fusaro regarding the pre-vote written statement, which states that this is the only ballot cast in the election.

“If a timely received mail-in ballot is not counted due to a defect in the envelope, then the mail-in ballot cannot be considered “sent” because it will not be counted. This is especially true because defective mail ballots are delayed and never opened,” the ACLU letter reads.

He cited a provision in the law that would not count a pre-ballot if the voter’s mail-in ballot was received and accepted by the board in a timely manner.

“Both provisions help prevent double voting,” the ACLU said in a statement.

Because the provisional ballot is reviewed and a decision is made after Election Day, the board will be able to determine if the ballot was mailed to a voter with a fatal error allowing the provisional ballot to be counted, the release said. If the ballot is counted, the panel will not count the provisional ballot, the release said, noting that the process is in line with the Pennsylvania State Department’s guidelines for using provisional ballots as a way to correct defects in mail-in ballots.

“Banning voters with defects on pre-ballot mail envelopes creates an unacceptably high risk of disenfranchisement of voters, as many of them will not be able to travel to Wilkes-Barre as soon as possible, even if they could have turned up in person. at their local polling station to vote early,” the letter reads.

Prohibition of advance voting to correct mail ballot deficiencies also violates the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the US and Pennsylvania constitutions, argues in letter citing case law and notes that a voter’s right to cast an advance vote under HAVA is “mandatory and unambiguous.” “.

“Such a drastic change in board policy, so close to the upcoming January 31 snap election, is highly likely to cause confusion for both voters and poll workers. Voter confusion can also lead to further disenfranchisement, which is why the courts do not approve last-minute changes to election rules.

Approximately 16 voters corrected their defective mail ballots by early voting in the general constituency on Nov. 8, officials said. Dozens more showed up at the electoral bureau ahead of Election Day to correct shortcomings.

The bureau knows in advance which ballots have outer envelope defects because it uses a new ballot sorting machine. Previously, work crews began checking outer envelopes and weeding out defective ones on Election Day.

The Election Day Processing List includes blank ballots that were not placed in the required inner envelopes for security reasons before they were inserted into the outer envelope.

The January 31 special election, designed to replace former state senator John Gordner, will affect voters in 18 counties: Black Creek, Butler, Coningham, Dorrance, Fairview, Hollenback, Huntington, Neskopek, Rice, Salem, Slocum, Sugarloaf, and Wright. and the areas of Coningham, Neskopek, New Columbus, Nuangola and Shikshinni.

These municipalities have 31 polling stations and about 34,349 registered voters.

Contact Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or tweet @TLJenLearnAndes.