90 absentee ballots won’t be counted

Luzerne County Commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Stephen A. Urban voted Friday to rescind an absentee ballot extension.

County solicitor Neil O’Donnell told the commissioners, who were sitting as election board members, that he and the Pennsylvania Department of State agree the extension violates the state election code.

The reversal means that roughly 90 ballots won’t be counted, Urban said. Those ballots came in between the 5 p.m., April 18, deadline and Tuesday’s primaries.

Urban and Skrepenak had voted to extend the deadline at the urging of Wilkes-Barre Township resident Bob Caruso.

The two commissioners agreed Friday that the county should notify the 90 voters that their ballots won’t be counted because of state law. The letters will urge voters to contact their state legislators about changing the law.

Urban said voters who are out of the area sometimes have difficulty returning the ballot within the deadline.

Skrepenak said he sees no reason why the ballots should not be accepted through Election Day.

Also Friday, the county Election Bureau conducted an official count of Tuesday’s results.

The tally determined that state Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, garnered enough write-in votes to receive the Republican nomination in November.

Eachus already won the Democratic nomination. There was no Republican contender, but some Republican voters waged a campaign to write him in so his name would appear on both parties’ tickets in the fall.

Eachus received 621 Republican write-in votes -- 321 more than he needed to get on the ballot, according to county Election Bureau Director Leonard Piazza.

Neither state Rep. Mike Carroll, D-Avoca, of the 118th District nor his opponent, P.J. Best of Pittston, received enough write-in votes in Luzerne County to secure placement on the Republican ballot in November. The 118th District consists of a portion of Luzerne and Monroe counties.

Best received 136 Republican write-in votes compared to Carroll’s 118 write-in votes in Luzerne County.

The Monroe County Bureau of Elections is scheduled to continue counting the absentee ballots on Monday.

As of 3:45 p.m. Friday, Carroll had received 22 write-in votes with four variations of his name in Monroe County, while Best received 11.

To get on the ballot, Carroll or Best must receive more than 300 write-in votes combined in Monroe and Luzerne counties.

On the Web

Go to www.luzernecounty.org to see the results of Friday’s official election count. To access the information, click on “departments and agencies” and then “Bureau of Elections.”