Luzerne County preparing for special election

Due to the short window, Luzerne County’s Election Bureau must immediately start preparing for a Jan. 31 special election to replace state Sen. John Gordner, county Acting Election Director Beth McBride said Thursday.

“As of today, we are eight-and-a-half weeks away from another election,” McBride said in an email to the election board and administration.

Voters in 18 county municipalities will participate in the special election, McBride said: the townships of Black Creek, Butler, Conyngham, Dorrance, Fairview, Hollenback, Huntington, Nescopeck, Rice, Salem, Slocum, Sugarloaf and Wright and the boroughs of Conyngham, Nescopeck, New Columbus, Nuangola and Shickshinny;

There are 31 precincts and 34,349 registered voters in these municipalities, she said.

“Although it is a ‘smaller’ election in the sense that it covers a small geographical area and impacts a fraction of the precincts that would normally hold elections during primary elections and general elections, it is still a great deal of work in an incredibly short time frame,” McBride’s email said.

In comparison, the county had been notified Jan. 10 of the April 5 special election to fill Tarah Toohil’s vacant state representative in the 116th Legislative District, allowing a longer preparation span, she said.

McBride is awaiting guidance from the Department of State on important deadlines for the Jan. 31 special election, her email said.

Those dates include deadlines for voters to request mail ballots and for the completion of logic and accuracy testing of election equipment, she said.

In the interim, McBride said she has started reaching out to vendors involved in county elections. She also started contacting polling places to determine if they will be available on Jan. 31 and will soon be getting in touch with poll workers to see if they are willing to work. A special training will be scheduled for poll workers who sign up for the special election, she said.

An electronic ballot marking device must be set up in each precinct to accommodate voters with disabilities, but McBride is proposing other voters use paper ballots and then feed them into tabulators/scanners at polling places. This is the approach the county used during the special election for Toohil’s seat on April 5, McBride said, noting the plan must be decided in consultation with the state.

Gordner’s term in the 27th Senatorial District was set to expire in 2024, and the special election also will be conducted in Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder counties. A Republican from Berwick, Gordner has resigned to accept a new position.

McBride said she is awaiting confirmation that the state will cover all costs involved in holding the special election, as it did for the April 5 special election.

Poll worker pay

The volunteer, five-citizen election board will hold a special meeting at 1 p.m. Monday to determine and approve additional compensation to Nov. 8 general election poll workers for putting in additional hours from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

A shortage of paper for the ballot marking devices at polling places prompted the county to resort to the extreme measure of keeping all polling places open an extra two hours.

Shortly after the court approved the extension, then-county manager Randy Robertson had announced the county would provide additional pay to poll workers.

The decision on pay ultimately falls to the election board, officials said.

McBride said she is working with the administration on a recommendation for the board, stressing poll workers should be appropriately compensated for putting in the extra time.

The bureau has held off on paying poll workers so they can receive both the regular and additional pay in one check, she said.

The standard Election Day pay is $230 for judges of elections and $195 for other poll workers, she said. A $20 stipend also is paid to workers who participated in training, and some poll workers also receive mileage reimbursement, she said.

“From what I understand, it’s up to board discretion how much will be paid additionally,” McBride said.

Typically, the county spends $240,000 for poll worker compensation in each election, she said.

McBride noted the compensation for additional hours is eligible for coverage through the county’s state election integrity grant. Once the total payment is known, the bureau must submit the information to the accounts payable department for final processing, she said. The administration will work to get the checks out as soon as possible, officials said.

Monday’s meeting is at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with instructions for remote attendance posted under council’s authorities/boards/commissions online link at luzernecounty.org.