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Luzerne County Council candidate Walter Griffith said Tuesday he has discovered this year’s county election board meetings were not publicly advertised in a newspaper as required.
Griffith said the failure is “egregious” because the county had insisted election board meetings were properly advertised in county court last month when he and citizen Brian Shiner unsuccessfully sought to delay the county’s voting district reconfiguration.
He also questions why the administration did not halt an Oct. 16 election board meeting after the lack of advertising became known through a Right-to-Know request he filed earlier this month.
“I get weary that every time someone raises objections, they shoot the messenger instead of considering the message,” Griffith said. “It’s the arrogance they treat the public with that annoys me.”
Griffith had attended the Oct. 16 meeting and told the board he didn’t believe it wasn’t properly advertised, but board members said they were unaware of that possibility and proceeded with the meeting.
County Assistant Solicitor Michael Butera, who is assigned to election matters, said Tuesday he did not confirm the meetings were never advertised until after the Oct. 16 meeting.
Butera said he knew heading into the Oct. 16 meeting that Griffith had filed a public information request but was not informed attempts to locate proof of publication had been exhausted.
What happens now?
Butera said the county must properly advertise the remaining 2019 meetings and vote at the next meeting Nov. 13 to ratify all decisions made at the other meetings already held this year. The board of five citizens certifies election results, approves proclamations listing ballot candidates, confirms polling place locations and makes other decisions involving the conduct of elections.
The violation can be rectified this way under the law, Butera said, because it was a clerical error and not an “intentional or malicious” attempt to keep the public in the dark.
The board historically advertised all meetings for the following year in one legal notice, and Butera said he has no idea why or how this advertisement was missed. Prior county election director Marisa Crispell handled legal advertisements but resigned Sept. 6.
Butera said the meetings had been placed on the county website and noted citizens are usually in attendance.
However, the election board meeting dates were removed from the site at some point and had not been restored as of Tuesday afternoon. Shiner complained about the lack of online meeting schedules at the Oct. 16 board meeting, saying the election board and some other county boards and authorities are not complying with a council directive to include their meetings in the county’s online calendar.
Griffith said “everybody makes mistakes” but believes the lack of advertising is “incompetency” because protocols should be in place to ensure requirements are met.