Misericordia University will have a mail ballot drop box for upcoming general election

Luzerne County will have a mail ballot drop box at Misericordia University in the Back Mountain for the Nov. 8 general election, officials said today.

The county election bureau had set up drop boxes in Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and Wright Township but held off on delivering the approved box at Misericordia due to a pending Dallas Township municipal meeting about the box. There was speculation some type of drop box ban could be approved in the township and prompt the university to withdraw its offer to continue hosting a box.

However, the bureau announced the Misericordia box would be set up today because it will be located in the part of campus falling in Dallas borough — not the township.

The municipal boundary line distinction was discovered during discussions between the township and university, said township Solicitor Thomas Mosca.

The box will be in the university’s Passan Hall facility, which was chosen largely due to its 24-hour video surveillance and accessible parking.

Even if the location had been in the township, Mosca said he was not advising a drop box ban.

“A ban would not have been appropriate under any circumstance. It is not within the power of a municipality to ban something like that,” Mosca said. “This involves election law, and a municipality does not have the option to alter it.”

Mosca said he is hopeful state legislators will address drop boxes before the 2023 elections providing clear direction to all.

The way it stands now, a state Supreme Court decision allowed boxes, but they are not required, Mosca said. Ideally, there will be a state law signed by the governor spelling out whether or not drop boxes will be permitted and, if so, containing a set of regulations governing the boxes, he said.

“This is a matter for the state legislator, not municipalities, and we need the legislature to take action,” Mosca said.

Without statewide direction, the county’s 76 municipalities — and local governments within the other 66 counties — may be pressed to take positions on boxes, he said.

An action in Butler Township had been described by some as a drop box ban, but it was actually a resolution urging the state to eliminate no-excuse mail ballots.

Dallas Township supervisors scheduled tonight’s special meeting because citizens attended a township meeting earlier this month to raise concerns about having a box at Misericordia, Mosca said.

No action was scheduled to be taken during the meeting, which he described as an informational and public comment session.

Mosca’s elaboration on the plans was needed because the public agenda stated only that the topic was the “Luzerne County ballot box to be placed in Dallas Township.”

The county’s election bureau said it was sending ballots today to more than 26,500 residents who have requested them to date. Completed ballots must be physically in the election bureau by 8 p.m. the night of the election to be tallied.

The three other boxes are inside the county-owned Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre, the Pittston Memorial Library and the Wright Township Volunteer Fire Department.

There won’t be a mailbox-style box in Hazleton City Hall as usual for the general election because city officials wanted to move the box to a part of the building that is not under city video surveillance.