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Jim Bognet said he has plenty to say during Tuesday’s Congressional committee hearing about Luzerne County’s November 2022 election paper shortage.
“I’m going to talk about the fiasco of an election Luzerne County put on and how it affected voters up here,” Bognet said Monday night as he drove to Washington, D.C.
Bognet said the Committee on House Administration contacted him last week inviting him to participate in the hearing called “Government Voter Suppression in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania,” which promises to examine “how a severe shortage of available Election Day ballots provided by Luzerne County effectively closed polling locations and prevented thousands of Pennsylvanians from exercising their right to vote in the 2022 midterm election.”
A Republican Congressional candidate in the November general election, Bognet did not win his race against incumbent Democrat Matt Cartwright and has questioned whether the shortage of paper for ballot marking devices at polling places cost him votes.
While the shortage prompted widespread outrage, some have questioned how many voters were prevented from casting ballots because polling places were supposed to provide paper provisional ballots and remain open two extra hours, or until 10 p.m., in an attempt to accommodate any voters turned away earlier that day.
Bognet said he will be presenting the case of a man in his 80s who was disenfranchised because he and his wife went to their polling place before 10 p.m. and were informed it was not remaining open. Bognet said he obtained a video of the man’s account and noted he has received complaints from hundreds of voters “in great distress” about the impact the paper shortage had at their polling places.
“I think we should all be angry,” Bognet said. “Luzerne County should not be a laughingstock when it comes to elections.”
Other witnesses
In advance of the hearing, the Committee on House Administration publicly posted a witness list for two panels, with the proceeding estimated to begin at 10:30 a.m.
Panel 1: Bognet; Darin Gibbons, counsel for the Republican National Committee; Donald Palmer, commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission; and Alisha Hoffman-Mirilovich, executive director of Action Together NEPA.
Panel 2: citizens Theodore Fitzgerald, Benjamin Herring, Jessica Morgan and James Walsh.
Pennsylvania State Rep. Mike Cabell, R-Butler Township, was on the witness list but later was removed. Cabell said he is unable to attend because he has a full day of hearings in Harrisburg as a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
“But I could tell you I am following the issue very closely, and election integrity remains a top priority for me,” Cabell said.
Written statements submitted by all witnesses, along with their bios, are posted on the hearing page.
Palmer is the only witness among those originally invited.
All three invited county officials declined to attend, primarily because the county District Attorney’s Office is still actively investigating the paper shortage. The officials are: county Deputy Election Director Beth Gilbert, Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams and County Council Chairwoman Kendra Radle.
Williams said the county law office advised her against attending due to the pending DA investigation.
County DA Sam Sanguedolce said last week his office is thoroughly investigating the cause and effect of the Nov. 8 election paper problem. Every detective in his office is involved in some capacity, and they have interviewed more than a hundred individuals, including election bureau workers, polling place workers and voters, the DA said.
In addition, the Congressional committee had invited two state officials to testify: Jonathan Marks, Deputy Secretary of State for Elections and Commissions, and someone handling duties of the vacant position directing the state’s Bureau of Election Security and Testing.
On Monday the Pennsylvania Department of State media office released a letter Marks sent the Congressional Committee conveying regret that he is unable to participate.
“As you are aware, the events of the 2022 general election are currently under investigation by the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office. The Department of State does not wish to interfere in or compromise the results of that investigation. Accordingly, I believe it would be inappropriate for me to testify about the 2022 general election in Luzerne County prior to the conclusion of that investigation,” it said.
Marks also noted the administration of elections in Pennsylvania is primarily the responsibility of county officials, and it’s up to each of the 67 counties is to ensure elections in the county are run effectively.
“Though the department offers guidance and assistance to counties on election administration issues, the Department of State, with very few exceptions, unrelated to the issues here, has limited authority under Pennsylvania’s Election Code to dictate how counties run their elections,” Marks wrote.
The state’s director of the Bureau of Election Security and Testing position was vacant during the November general election and remains unfilled, he added. That position also has no relation to the “noticed topic of the hearing,” he said.
The Congressional hearing is at the Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. For those interested in remotely viewing the hearing, it will be livestreamed on the YouTube page of the Committee on House Administration, which is chaired by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin. The link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY58Sww8iwc.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.