Low Turnout in Pennsylvania State Senate Special Election

Voter turnout in today’s special elections in 18 Lucerne County municipalities was low, according to Acting County Elections Director Beth McBride.

Polling stations close at 20:00. There are two candidates on the ballot: Democrat Patricia L. Lawton and Republican Linda J. Schlegel Culver.

Approximately 34,350 county voters are registered to vote in multi-county special elections in place of former state senator John Gordner. The location covers parts of Lucerne, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder counties.

According to McBride, as of 15:00, 1,049 voters were at the polling stations.

According to her, by 15:00 ballots were sent by mail from another 2,641 voters.

Election Commissioner Denise Williams said mail-in ballot processing, known as pre-campaign, ended around 11:30 a.m. at the Penn Place Building County Courtroom in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

According to Williams, the commission identified about 24 mail-in ballots with flaws that prevent them from being counted. The list of these voters was provided to the leaders of political parties so that they could try to contact the voters and offer them the opportunity to vote by paper provisional ballots in their polling stations.

A total of 4,888 postal ballots were issued, that is, more than half of them were returned.

Williams said the only issue brought to the council’s attention was the election bureau’s decision to send out updated lists to some polling places showing which voters are registered as returning their ballots by mail.

McBride said the information, while useful to poll workers, is of no value because the ballot logs already list all voters who have requested mail-in ballots.

Mail-in voters cannot vote in their polling place by regular ballot unless they turn in their ballots and mail-in envelopes to be voided or damaged, she said. If this does not happen, all voters who have requested mail-in ballots have the opportunity to vote only in advance at the polling stations. Preliminary ballots are checked by the election commission at the time of the decision to ensure voters don’t send a ballot through the mail and one at polling stations, officials said.

Williams said there were no complaints about the late opening of polling stations or problems with electronic voting books or tabulator scanners.

The Electoral Commission voted unanimously in favor of a return to electronic voter registration lists instead of the paper ballot journals that the electoral bureau decided to use in the November 8 general election.

Although McBride had reservations about the e-books being outdated and causing problems for poll workers, she complied with the board’s directive and completed testing of the e-voting logs and preparations for the special election. McBride said she is encouraged that the electronic voting logs work as intended because she supports the technology. The e-books allow poll workers to instantly search for voters, check their registration and determine the correct polling station if they are in the wrong place, officials said.

“I hope we can use them in the May primary too,” McBride said.

According to her, as a reserve, the bureau printed paper questionnaires on its own.

The county purchased the voting logs for $325,000 in 2018 with the promise that the equipment will speed up and improve voter processing when entering polling places, with voters logging in using a stylus on a tablet.

Voters in the following municipalities in Lucerne County are eligible to vote: Townships of Black Creek, Butler, Coningham, Dorrance, Fairview, Hollenback, Huntington, Neskopek, Rice, Salem, Slocum, Sugarloaf, and Wright, Coningham, Neskopek, New Columbus , Nuangola and Shikshinni.

Voters can call 570-825-1715 or email [email protected] to get help or report any concerns.

As usual, results will be posted and updated on luzernecounty.org after polls close.

Williams said the special election decision process will begin at 8:30 am Friday at the Penn Place Building.

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