TimesLeader.com

October 30, 2008
Election inspires new voters to register

Absentee voting in Luzerne County also higher than in 2004 election.

By Rebecca Bria rbria@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

WILKES-BARRE – The numbers of new registered voters and completed absentee ballots in Luzerne County are higher than they were for the 2004 general presidential election.

According to Len Piazza, director of the county Bureau of Elections, 14,648 people registered to vote in the county within the past year, as opposed to 13,728 new voter registrations in the 12 months before the 2004 general presidential election. The numbers do not include previously registered voters from other counties who transferred into the county and had to re-register.

For the 2004 general election, 8,246 absentee ballots in the county were cast. This year, 8,862 absentee ballots came in.Approximately 400 to 500 people came through the county bureau of elections office on Monday and Tuesday alone for in-person absentee voting. Tuesday was the last day for absentee voting in Pennsylvania, with the exception of emergency absentee voting and military personnel serving overseas.

“Since I’ve been in the office since 2002, and director since 2004, I have not seen anything at all like what we’ve been experiencing in here with the level of interest in this election,” Piazza said. “It’s just been a massive undertaking. I thought 2004 was going to be the busiest we’ll ever be, but we’re certainly busier than we were in 2004.”

Piazza said the increase in registered voters and absentee ballots for Tuesday’s general election means more work for his office, but with less help than in the past. The bureau’s staff is down 50 percent from 2000, and seven full-time positions have been cut since 2004.

“One of the other things I could say, too, is our county’s financial situation has been well publicized over the past several weeks now,” Piazza said. “That’s really had an impact on the office because we haven’t been able to hire per-diems in the office. We’ve had to rely solely on the staff here.

“We’re doing so much more with far fewer people than ever before. This one was just the toughest election that we’ve all worked here.”

Two new ES&S Model M650 high-speed optical count scanners will be used for the first time to count absentee ballots on election night. The county also tapped into its reserve bank of voting machines and will add one machine to each of the 20 most-populated precincts to reduce the amount of time people have to wait to cast ballots.

“As far as the voters are concerned for election day, be patient,” Piazza said. “Make the time and get out and vote. Don’t become frustrated if you see there’s going to be a wait.”