Non-election Luzerne County Penn Place Building workers will be stationed elsewhere on Election Day

As part of Luzerne County’s security and logistics plan, county employees stationed at the Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre will work and provide services at other county buildings on Election Day if they are not involved in election assistance, said county Manager Romilda Crocamo.

Located at 20 N. Pennsylvania Avenue, Penn Place is the hub of election operations because it houses the election bureau and is the site where election results are processed.

The non-election Penn Place offices impacted by the Election Day relocation include tax claim, treasurer, probation services and licensing.

Crocamo said non-election workers will be set up at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre or the Human Services Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. A public notice detailing the plan will be posted at luzernecounty.org.

The process to start unsealing mail ballot envelopes and scanning the ballots, known as pre-canvassing, will start Tuesday morning in Penn Place. By law, counties cannot start uploading mail ballot results — known as canvassing — until the polls close at 8 p.m.

Observation of pre-canvassing and canvassing is limited to political party officials and candidates or their representatives, and all observers must have watcher certificates obtained through the election bureau, officials have said.

All election workers will wear badges to clearly identify them, Crocamo said.

Walsh suit

A court hearing on Republican Jamie Walsh’s pending election-related suit was postponed last Friday and is planned for Monday, the day before the election, in federal court in Williamsport, according to the latest information supplied by county officials Friday.

It’s unclear if an agreement will be reached before then.

Walsh filed the litigation Oct. 25 against the county, the county election bureau and county election board. The county and bureau requested a venue change from the county Court of Common Pleas to federal court due to the plaintiff’s assertion of Constitutional violations.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann in Pennsylvania’s Middle District is presiding over the case.

The litigation seeks an order requiring the county to process remaining voter registrations and mail ballot applications. The county said processing of both has been completed and that Walsh, the lone plaintiff, already cast a mail ballot. Walsh wanted to present other voters as witnesses.

If the hearing proceeds, county Election Director Emily Cook would have to travel to Williamsport to testify because she must act as a county witness.

As of last week, no time was set for the Monday hearing.

Election Board adjudication

The county’s five-citizen volunteer county Election Board will meet at 9 a.m. Friday in Penn Place to begin required post-election adjudication for the Nov. 5 general election.

Adjudication, which is open to the public, will be held in Courtroom A at Penn Place on the third floor and will continue next week until all ballots are reviewed.

For example, the board must review all paper provisional ballots cast at the polls and mail ballots that were flagged for various reasons.

The board had formalized and expanded the entire adjudication process to make it more transparent and understandable.

Overseas and military ballots are also tallied during adjudication.

Results from ballots accepted in adjudication will be periodically uploaded to the county’s online election database at luzernecounty.org to reflect changes in vote tallies.

The county also must audit a percentage of ballots cast to verify the voter selections were properly credited.

A final reconciliation also is necessary before the board’s final election certification vote to make sure the total number of ballots processed matches the voter count.

Study commission

The county’s Government Study Commission will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 7) in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Authorized by county primary election voters on April 23, the seven-citizen commission wants to keep the county’s home rule government structure but is considering possible alterations that could improve it.

Voters would have to approve recommended changes for them to take effect.

Instructions to attend remotely are posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org.