Luzerne County handles turbulent election day

Luzerne County had a tumultuous Election Day on Tuesday that included high voter turnout, an unfounded bomb threat and a mix-up in segregated voting in the 119th Legislative District.

“Every challenge we faced was met with unwavering teamwork and commitment, demonstrating our resolve to ensure a fair, free and secure election,” County Manager Romilda Crocamo said late Tuesday.

Bomb threat

Election workers and county officials had to leave the mail-in ballot processing room on the third floor of the county's Penn Place building in downtown Wilkes-Barre for more than an hour Tuesday night because of a bomb threat against multiple counties.

County sheriff's deputies were stationed outside the ballot door and a bomb-sniffing dog from Lackawanna County was brought in.

Crocamo told observers that the county is taking the threat seriously, even though it may not prove credible.

Poll watchers and other election officials were allowed to be on the third floor, but not near the room where ballots were being processed. This only impacted mail-in ballots because the county was still waiting for election results from polling stations at the time of the lockdown.

Security was increased at Penn Place throughout the day with sheriff's deputies stationed along the exterior and interior of the building.

A legal team of county staff attorneys was also assigned to handle inquiries at polling places on a range of issues, and throughout the day a steady stream of voters and advocates showed up at the elections office with questions about voter registrations and ballots.

119. Race

Processing of mail-in ballots also stopped around 4:30 p.m. because officials discovered ballots with the incorrect spelling of the name of 119th Legislative District candidate Alec Ryncavage were included, even though those ballots were supposed to remain separate, they said Officer.

Crocamo said an employee accidentally inserted the misspelled “Tyncavage” ballots into the replacement Ryncavage ballots. The county is working with the Board of Elections and the Pennsylvania Department of State to mitigate the problem, she said.

Crocamo emphasized that the ballots had not yet been scanned when the problem was discovered and officials were “working backwards” to identify the affected ballots and sort them out again for consideration during the Board of Elections' decision-making, which begins Friday treat.

Ryncavage, the incumbent seeking re-election, said the error was concerning because the ballots were removed from the outer envelopes that identified the voters who cast them.

The county had issued corrected ballots to 6,700 absentee voters in the county, but Ryncavage said officials promised that the original ballots would be accepted from voters who never cast a second ballot.

He questioned how this could be accomplished since voters' identities could not be determined from the misspelled ballots that had already been opened.

During processing, called pre-canvassing, staff removes the sealed inner secrecy envelopes from the outer envelope containing the voter's name. The secrecy envelopes are then shuffled before the ballots are removed, so there is no way of linking an individual voter to the ballots contained therein.

Ryncavage said he and his legal counsel met with county officials to discuss the matter.

It was determined that the pre-selection team would only process ballots for the 119th District with the correct Ryncavage spelling. The newly issued ballots contained a red mark that distinguished them from the ballots originally mailed, he said he was informed.

Some voters received original ballots with the correct spelling of Ryncavage's name, but the county said only those with the red identifier would be included in the unofficial election night totals.

“The county must ensure there are absolutely no double votes in this election. It has to be one vote per person,” Ryncavage said.

Ryncavage, a Republican, ran against Democrat Megan Kocher.

“It’s really disturbing to see that there are additional issues impacting the 119th District,” Kocher said. “I hope they can find a timely solution so voters know who their next representative will be as quickly as possible.”

Laflin

The county's voters had an extra 90 minutes – until 9:30 p.m. – to cast their ballots because the polling place opened late, officials said.

The county sought district court approval for the extension.

Crocamo said the election judge did not show up and postponed the opening until 8:30 a.m

Online reports that the Laflin polling place was out of paper were false, she said.

As would be expected in a presidential election year, voter turnout at polling stations was consistent.

On the issue of supplies, Crocamo said the county has a large supply of paper, ink and provisional ballots, and a team of rovers has been delivering them as needed.

She didn't know that polling stations had run out of supplies.

Mail-in ballots

A team of about 35 to 40 employees processed the mail-in ballots under the supervision of the election board.

Shortly after 11 p.m., workers had processed about 40,160 mail-in ballots and more are still being cast.

According to the state's daily report, mail-in ballots were issued to 49,677 county voters who requested them, meaning the mail-in ballot return rate will exceed 81%.

Crocamo thanked county elections director Emily Cook, the county's five-member volunteer election board and poll workers. She also recognized the staff who sorted the mail-in ballots, saying “their persistence has not gone unnoticed.”

“All credit goes to all the poll workers for their hard work and dedication,” Crocamo said.

The results remain unofficial because the election board must address provisional ballots and marked mail-in ballots when making its public decision.