Latest news with #LuzerneCountyElectionBoard
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Luzerne County concludes write-in vote tally, slowed by names written in jest
Jun. 4—"Bruce Springstein!," Luzerne County Election Board Vice Chairwoman Alyssa Fusaro announced to the room of county workers and board members processing May 20 primary election write-in votes. A few minutes later, another voter write-in selection of Bart Simpson for a school board seat was shouted out by someone else. To break the monotony of reviewing more than 20,000 write-in votes and illustrate the scale of the problem of write-ins submitted in jest, the group decided to log the questionable ones on a dry-erase board. The board eventually had to be flipped to the other side to squeeze them all in. A second board would have been needed if the group had recorded off-color write-ins, participants said. It was funny but not funny. Fusaro said many voters also write in their own names or those of friends or family, even though none of them want the seat. Unlike the ones on the dry-erase board, these potential real contenders must be made part of the official record in races that have no candidates appearing on the ballot. Some voters also go out of their way to write the same name for every single race on the ballot — local, county and statewide offices. Write-ins that are not serious slow down completion of the write-in tallying while the public is pushing to see the write-in results as fast as possible, Fusaro said. In addition to the usual cartoon characters, celebrities both dead and alive, classic figures from fiction, national-level politicians and random criminals, there were these verbatim selections in the county primary: "someone different," "no one else," "anybody else," "anybody honest," "unknown," "none of you," "all suck," "stop stealing," "someone new," "why I pay," "I've no kids," "anyone represent taxpayer," "none," "no buddy," "not me," "not you" and "not any of these clowns." Other voters tried to convey a broader message by writing in "the U.S. Constitution," "life," "liberty," "justice," "property," "corruption," "sleaze," "racist," "connected" and "Free Palestine." Also worth mentioning were selections of "box of paper," "baloney and ham sammich" and "box of rocks." County officials started observing a marked increase in write-in votes in 2006 when the county switched to electronic ballot marking devices, with some theorizing the write-in option was more noticeable than it had been on the old lever machines. The May 20 primary election tallying group spent six days at the county's Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre adjudicating write-in votes and ballots that had been flagged due to extraneous marks and other issues. Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, county Election Director Emily Cook alerted everyone that there were 39 ballots remaining for review. "We can do this," someone yelled. A collective countdown erupted when the last ballot review was underway about 10 minutes later. Cook said a report on the write-in winners will be posted on the election page of the county website at Letters will be sent to write-in winners asking them to accept or decline the nomination by a certain deadline. Those accepting will be required to submit paperwork. The election board is set to certify the primary results at 10 a.m. Monday in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, said Election Board Chairwoman Christine Boyle. Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Luzerne County's post-primary adjudication begins Friday
May 23—The Luzerne County Election Board's public post-primary adjudication will begin Friday and have a different structure. Adjudication determines which flagged mail and provisional ballots are accepted or rejected and tallies write-in votes. Attempting to make the marathon adjudication sessions more efficient, the five-citizen board voted in March to activate an election staff canvassing board to handle the review and processing portion, adhering to past board practices. Canvassing boards are permitted by state law. Election board members will still have the opportunity to seek further information and have final say on which ballots are counted, officials said. Board member Rick Morelli had proposed the change, saying the volunteer election board has been spending weeks after every election performing work that should be completed by staff. Creation of the canvassing board was unanimously approved in March by the election board, which also includes Chairwoman Christine Boyle, Vice Chairwoman Alyssa Fusaro, Daniel Schramm and Albert Schlosser. Fusaro had voted against a subsequent motion outlining the operation of the canvassing board, saying she believed further discussion was warranted on the specifics. Three county election workers were appointed as the canvassing board members for the primary election: Election Director Emily Cook, Election Deputy Director Steve Hahn and Election Deputy Chief Clerk Amanda Latoski. According to the agenda for Friday's adjudication, the canvassing board and county law office will brief the board on their recommendations to accept or reject ballots in specific categories, such as those missing inner secrecy envelopes and outer envelope dates and signatures. Paper provisional ballots cast at polling places also must be checked to verify voters were properly registered and did not already cast a mail ballot. A count of flagged mail ballots and provisional ballots was not available Thursday. The results of those accepted will be added to the online results. Because there has been no court ruling saying otherwise, the county must count primary election ballots missing handwritten dates on the outer envelope, county Assistant Solicitor Gene Molino said Thursday. A federal court ruling by District Judge Susan Baxter, an appointee of President Donald Trump in his first term, determined the rejection of undated or wrongly dated ballots violated the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. An appeal is pending, but the decision stands at this time because a stay was not granted, Molino said. As a precaution, the county election bureau had segregated these ballots — the number is unclear — in case the appeal court ruled otherwise by the election. Voters are instructed to sign and date the outer envelope where indicated. The date refers to when the ballot was filled out, not a birth date. Critics have argued the date is unnecessary because the election bureau time-stamps the ballots upon receipt and cannot count those that arrive after 8 p.m. on Election Day. Friday's adjudication starts at 9 a.m. in third-floor Courtroom A of the county's Penn Place Building, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre. County Democratic Chairman Thomas Shubilla said Audrey Serniak will serve as the party's observer at the adjudication. County Republican Chairwoman LeeAnn McDermott said she assigned Frank Wojtash as the party's observer. Adjudication will continue next week as needed to process write-in votes and ballots held for processing because the voters selected more than the allowable number of candidates or made "ambiguous marks," such as using lines instead of shading in the bubbles. After this work is completed, the county must complete an audit and reconciliation report of ballot counts required before the board votes on certifying the election results. Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Charges filed against citizen removed from Luzerne County Election Board meeting
Mar. 21—A citizen removed from Wednesday's Luzerne County Election Board meeting has been charged with simple assault, disrupting a meeting and other alleged offenses by the county sheriff's department. The citizen, 68-year-old Plains Township resident Joe Granteed, regularly attends election board meetings and had repeatedly threatened litigation against the county Wednesday as he was taken out by sheriff deputies. The criminal complaint alleges the following: At approximately 7 p.m. Wednesday, Granteed spoke at the podium during public comment about his belief that the county should only use paper ballots in elections and then "began to verbally attack the members of the Luzerne County Board of Elections, stating that they should be removed and that the board's existence is unconstitutional." When his allocated three minutes for speaking expired, he continued to speak "and became increasingly disruptive." "As the defendant was returning to his seat, he continued to verbally assault the election board members, singling out Member Rick Morelli. Election Board Chairwoman Christine Boyle continuously told the defendant to take a seat and keep quiet." It said the defendant refused. Sheriff Deputy Jerry DeHaza approached Granteed and "attempted to calm him down, but he continued to act out and stated that Deputy DeHaza did not have any authority to remove anyone from the meeting." DeHaza continued the attempts and unsuccessfully gave him several verbal commands to exit the courthouse. Corporal Wanda Babula arrived and conferred with DeHaza, while Deputy Ryan Morgans remained in the meeting room. Babula and DeHaza returned to Granteed, and both issued verbal commands to leave the courthouse, and Granteed refused. Babula attempted to gather Granteed's belongings on the chair next to him, and Granteed stated she could not touch his belongings and "swatted her hands away." "This prompted Deputy DeHaza to attempt to gain control of the defendant by taking a hold of the defendant's right arm. The defendant pushed Deputy DeHaza away by striking Deputy DeHaza in the right shoulder with his left hand and left abdomen with his right hand," it said. While Morgans was attempting to gain control of Granteed's left arm, Granteed "swiped his arm away from Deputy Morgans and again struck Deputy DeHaza in the right shoulder with his left hand." Granteed continued to state the deputies did not have the authority to remove him and that his First Amendment rights were being violated. County Manager Romilda Crocamo told Granteed the deputies absolutely had the authority to remove him. "The defendant continued to flail his body trying to break away" as DeHaza and Babula gained control of Granteed's right arm and Morgans controlled his left arm. DeHaza and Morgans lifted Granteed from the chair and removed him from the meeting room with assistance from Babula. Granteed was escorted to the elevator and then "calmed down and finally stopped his flailing," prompting DeHaza and Morgans to release their hold on Granteed. The deputies provided their names to Granteed at his request. He stated he was injured but left the courthouse without responding when asked if he required medical assistance, it said. Video footage of the meeting has been preserved as evidence. Granteed faces misdemeanor charges of simple assault, disrupting a meeting and disorderly conduct and a summary harassment charge. He was arraigned Friday morning and was released after posting bail, which was set at $25,000. Granteed declined to comment Friday. More background Granteed's public comment largely expressed his dissatisfaction with an election board majority's selection last month of a Democrat (Boyle) to fill the fifth board chairmanship seat. The county's home rule charter requires the four council-appointed election board members — two Republicans and two Democrats — to choose a fifth citizen of any affiliation or no affiliation. The seat was open because Denise Williams, a Democrat, resigned in December to run for county council. The council-appointed board members are Republicans Alyssa Fusaro (vice chair) and Morelli and Democrats Albert Schlosser and Daniel Schramm. Following public interviews of applicants for the fifth seat, Schlosser nominated Boyle, and Fusaro nominated Frank Yamrick, a Republican. With only one round of voting required, Boyle was selected by Morelli, Schramm and Schlosser. Fusaro was the lone vote for Yamrick. Morelli said he based his selection on the interviews. To avoid a tie-vote impasse, at least one board member must select a chair that is not from his/her party because three votes are required. The county Court of Common Pleas would have to fill the fifth seat if the board cannot reach a majority decision. Here is a verbatim account of what transpired leading up to the sheriff department's intervention: Granteed: First of all, if the object is to have free and fair and accurate elections, paper ballots are the only way to do that. Single election day. One election day. Voter ID. Tallied in the different wards by the people who run the wards and citizen witnesses. That's the only way you're going to have it. Any electronic system is subject to hacking, fraud and outside manipulation. We're wasting our time here if you want a free and fair election. It's easy to put paper ballots into use if you want to do it. I can't believe that we're still trying to run these elections the way we've run them over the last three or four years. They're so complicated. You could simplify everything by doing what I am suggesting. The other thing I'd like to talk about is this board is made up currently of four Democrats and one Republican. Apparently Mr. Morelli forgot what he was seated to do. The county is seeing — the country is seeing — that the Democrat party are nothing but criminals, traitors and frauds, and I'm afraid those descriptions are accurate in Luzerne County. I'm calling for the resignation of everybody in this room and everybody in the (election) bureau. The charter says that we're supposed to have equal representation, and after the vote for the chairperson — and this is nothing personal — but we did not get equal representation. We have two spineless people on this board on the Democrat side and a walking example of fraud on the Republican side. He voted against most conservative issues when you decided to show up for meetings and when you weren't in a hurry to get out of here. This board is nothing but an unconstitutional group that doesn't represent the overwhelmingly conservative Luzerne County majority. These issues should be decided by voters that are affected by the outcomes, not a partisan panel of activists that we thought had ended with the resignation of Denise Williams. This board should be abolished due to its unconstitutional design and its unconstitutional charter design. Chairwoman Boyle: Your time is up. Granteed: Maybe Morelli supports drag queen story hour for children, radical trans surgeries for men and women.. Boyle: Sir. Sir. You are out of order. Your time is up. You will step away from the podium. (As Granteed heads toward his seat, a sheriff deputy approached Granteed and pointed to the exit door as Morelli responded to Granteed.) Morelli: Can I just ask you a quick question? What was I seated to do? What was I supposed to do? Please go ahead. Was I supposed to come in here and follow somebody? Maybe run for election one day, and you'll realize you've got to do the right thing. You'll learn how to do the right thing someday. I don't follow anyone's orders. Fusaro: Banged the gavel three times. Granteed: (Addressing the deputy sheriff) You don't work for them. You work for me. You put me out, and we're going to have a hell of a lawsuit against you. I can say whatever I want. (The sheriff deputy temporarily left Granteed, who sat down) Boyle: Ok, this conversation is done. Boyle instructed the next speaker to approach the podium but then advised her to return to her seat until the matter with Granteed was resolved because two sheriff deputies approached Granteed to remove him. As the two sheriff deputies were already attempting to remove Granteed, Crocamo spoke up for the first time and asked Granteed, "Sir, please leave." Granteed told the deputies they have no authority "to take me out" and to not touch him, threatening a lawsuit. Crocamo said the sheriff's department has absolute authority. "He's disrupting the meeting. Remove him," Crocamo said. Crocamo said later she had a responsibility to speak in support of the removal already initiated by sheriff deputies because he was resisting, and she oversees the sheriff's department and courthouse security. There were counter-allegations of assault between Granteed and the deputies before they removed him. Seeking clarity Benjamin R. Herring sent a letter to Boyle Thursday indicating that his organization, Citizens Advisory of Pennsylvania, has been contacted "due to events that transpired" at Wednesday's election board meeting. Herring said Granteed was providing comments during public comment "when a 'back and forth' ensued" between Granteed and Morelli. "While we acknowledge and respect the decorum that is required per Roberts Rules as well as Luzerne County policy regarding conduct at meetings, the alleged incident that occurred may have been improperly handled. If in fact, Mr. Granteed was responding to comments being directed at him by Election Board Member Morelli, it would be hard to argue that he 'went over his allotted time,'" Herring wrote. Herring said he will await posting of the video to "confirm what exactly transpired." The board chair is the "sole authority" to enforce policy conformance during the meeting, maintaining that includes removal of a citizen, said Herring, who serves as the council-appointed Republican on the county ethics commission. Video Unlike county council meetings, no video of the election board meeting is posted on YouTube. Scott Cannon, of Video Innovations, has an agreement to broadcast county council meetings for Service Electric Cable, and he agreed to post council meetings on YouTube more than a decade ago at the request of a council member for those outside the television station's broadcast area. According to an October communication from Cannon, he started livestreaming county election board meetings independently several years ago as a public service when he was available, using free software from home and a private YouTube channel. However, his October email said he would no longer be livestreaming election board meetings due to "conspiracy theories" about censorship spread on talk radio about a missed election board meeting. Cannon said he was unable to attend one election board meeting because he was filming a Wilkes-Barre League of Women Voters 119th District Forum held at the same time. "Due to my wife's concern for these accusations and the potential for retaliation, I've decided to stop live streaming election board meetings. However, I'll continue broadcasting and livestreaming county council meetings per my agreement with Luzerne County," Cannon had said. Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
