Lucerne County Electoral Commission Schedules Meeting to Review Ballot Changes

Lucerne County Electoral Commissioner Danny Schramm said Monday he demanded a special meeting to withdraw his support for a recent change in how voters can deal with mail-in ballots on Election Day.

Schramm said he could no longer secure the vote needed to make the change after reading a new message from the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania urging the board to reconsider its decision.

A special meeting is scheduled for 9:00 am Wednesday in Courtroom A on the third floor of the Penn Place Building, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., in Wilkes-Barre.

Board chairman Denise Williams said the meeting could not be held until Wednesday due to a 24-hour public notice requirement. Remote attendance will not be possible, Williams said, because the courthouse council room, equipped for virtual meetings, was not available until Wednesday afternoon and a snowstorm is forecast.

Williams said she wants to avoid waiting for a decision if possible because the electoral bureau has already begun identifying ballots for the Jan. 31 special election with flaws in the outer envelope and needs directive from the board to explain options to voters. A January 31 special election to replace former state senator John Gordner affected voters in 18 counties.

Election Commissioner Alyssa Fusaro proposed a change requiring voters to show up at the polling office in Penn Place to address a shortage of mail-in ballots on Election Day, instead of the previous option of voting early in their precinct.

Her proposal was passed with the support of vice chairman Jim Mangan and Schramm, while Williams and board member Audrey Serniak voted against.

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.

The ACLU has stated that timely mail-in ballots are not considered “cast” if they have a fatal defect because they are delayed and not counted.

Since paper provisional ballots are checked at the time of decision after Election Day, the board will be able to verify that a mail-in ballot had a fatal defect to ensure that only one vote is cast and counted in each case, the ACLU said, adding that making such a change so that shortly before snap elections can cause confusion for both voters and poll workers.

The ban on advance voting to correct mail-in ballot defects poses a high risk of disenfranchisement for voters unable to travel to Wilkes-Barre, and violates the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the US and Pennsylvania constitutions, says letter to the ACLU, citing case law and noting that a voter’s right to cast a provisional vote under HAVA is “mandatory and unequivocal.”

Fusaro made this statement on Monday:

“While provisional ballots may be cast, the law states in Section 25 § 3050(a.4)(5)(ii)(F) that they shall not be counted if the board has received its ballots in a timely manner. My decision to bring this matter to the board was simply to rule out any future problems in the decision process and also to give the voter the best chance of getting their vote counted instead of being contested at the time of the decision.”

She also pointed out that the ACLU’s letter was addressed to the county’s chief attorney and not sent directly to the Electoral Commission.

Sixteen voters corrected their defective mail ballots in a November 8 pre-district ballot, officials said. According to Williams, a GOP lawyer filed a lawsuit with the board, and after a hearing, four board members voted in favor of passing 16 preliminary ballots, with Fusaro providing a single vote against. According to her, no appeal was filed.

Williams said on Monday she appreciates the ACLU’s input and was awaiting the county attorney’s office’s opinion on the legality of the policy change she requested immediately after it was approved by the board on Jan. management.

Schramm also welcomed the ACLU’s post, stating that he voted for the change due to some of the arguments made during the meeting.

“Initially, there was an impression that the temporary voting was illegal. This is a misleading presentation,” Schramm said.

Schramm said he sees no reason to force voters to drive to Penn Place on Election Day and deal with the potential problem of finding parking to correct a mail ballot flaw, such as missing a signature or date on the outer envelope.

He has expressed frustration that he is sometimes expected to vote “spontaneously” on board matters.

“I want to reflect on things more and we often get conflicting messages,” Schramm said.

Approximately 4,800 voters have requested mail-in ballots for the Jan. 31 special election, and it remains to be seen how many will have disqualification defects.

While the electoral bureau began notifying voters of some outer envelope defects before election day for the November general election, some defects are not flagged until election day as mail-in 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.

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.

Powers of the Council

In an email to the county council on Monday, Fusaro cited the electoral bureau’s decision to begin notifying voters of shortcomings before Election Day.

Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Lee M. Chapman publicly released a notice ahead of the November 8 general election stating that district election commissions were advised to contact voters whose ballots were canceled in the mail due to errors in the outer envelope so that voters had opportunity to remedy the situation. .

After reviewing the new state leadership, in conjunction with the county law office, the bureau issued warnings to voters whose ballots did not have the required signatures on the outer envelopes or the dates were within acceptable limits.

Fusaro and Jim Mangan — two Republicans on the five-member council — said they don’t like the state’s insistence that polling bureaus notify voters outside of the council’s Election Day treatment process.

On Monday, Fusaro told the council that this procedure for prior contact with voters was implemented by the bureau and was never voted on by the electoral commission.

“Since my appointment, many policies and procedures have been changed without board approval because we were told it was ‘not our role’,” she wrote.

Fusaro urged the council to immediately revise the county’s administrative code to clarify the powers of the council, saying the code as written made the council “nothing more than a nominal role in which we sign documents over which we have no control” .

County Councilman Stephen J. Urban said Monday he is drafting a proposed administrative code change that would make the polling bureau an autonomous entity under the oversight of the board of volunteers, arguing that the board is responsible under state law for hiring polling stations, purchasing equipment, budgets, policies/procedures and investigation of violations and possible fraudulent activity.

Urban said he would soon submit his draft to the county’s law office for a non-binding opinion and then forward it to fellow council members for possible adoption.

At least for now, the board is in talks with the administration about a best practice agreement that will provide the board with more information about the election budget, equipment purchases, and rentals.

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