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Instead of scrolling through each race, 32% of Luzerne County voters — nearly a third of those casting ballots — hit the straight-ticket button in Tuesday’s general election to automatically select all contenders from their chosen party.
This option won’t be available in Pennsylvania elections starting next year because it was eliminated largely at the urging of Republican legislators in an election reform package recently signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, officials said. The straight-ticket selection only applies to general elections because voters must nominate candidates from their registered party in spring primaries.
Most states have eliminated straight-ticket voting, with critics arguing voters should individually make selections. Supporters have asserted the option simplifies voting and cuts wait times.
Although county Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 28,000, the number selecting straight-ticket from each party Tuesday was about the same.
Of the 17,772 straight-ticket ballots cast Tuesday, 8,941 were Democrat and 8,629 were Republican, according to unofficial results. The remaining 202 selected independent or no-affiliation.
It’s a higher percentage than reported in other recent odd-numbered general election years featuring local and regional races, records show.
Two years ago, in November 2017, straight-ticket selections accounted for 23.6% of county votes, or 11,721 of a total 49,654 ballots cast, records show.
The straight-ticket percentages ranged from 15% to 24% in the four other previous municipal election years — 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015, analysis of records shows.
Officials have said straight-ticket voting tends to be higher in even-numbered general election years when state and federal races are on the ballot because voters are less likely to choose candidates individually.
Half of county voters who cast ballots in the November 2018 general, or 54,010, pushed the straight-ticket button, which was the highest percentage in recent memory, according to officials and records. The straight-ticket breakdown in that election included 28,365 Republican and 25,443 Democrat selections.
In November 2016, which was a presidential election year, straight-ticket voting was 38.5% in the county, statistics show.
Turnout
Voter turnout ended up at 26.64% in Tuesday’s general, with 208,965 registered voters and 55,662 ballots cast, statistics show.
The turnout fell in line with predictions of less than 30%. In the last municipal general in 2017, 24.3% of county registered voters cast ballots.
The county election office did not have an immediate party registration breakdown of Tuesday’s election participation voter count.
Turnout varied in the county’s 186 voting precincts.
At least 40% of registered voters cast ballots in seven precincts, data shows: Bear Creek Village, 40%; Hazleton Ward 3, 50%; Hollenback Township, 44%; Jeddo, 48%; Penn Lake Park, 68%; Plymouth Township, 42%; and Shickshinny, 45%.
Three Wilkes-Barre precincts — Wards 6, 8 and 14 — had the lowest turnout of 15% or less, record show.
Paper-trail machines
County Manager C. David Pedri said he will be reaching out to state entities and election directors in other counties that used new paper-trail voting systems Tuesday to obtain feedback that may help in the decision about a system here.
Counties must pick a system by the end of the year and start using it by the April 2020 primary to comply with a state mandate requiring paper ballots or receipts that can be checked by voters and kept in case tallies are questioned.
Pedri said he will present his recommended system to council at its Nov. 26 work session, with a council vote to follow in December.
Concerns were raised in some other counties about longer lines, a lack of privacy, jamming paper-fed tabulators, an insufficient number of machines and other issues, according to published reports. The systems under consideration here are from Dominion Voting Systems, Election Systems and Software (ES&S) and Hart InterCivic.
“In the past, I supported a system from Dominion, but obviously I’m still open at this point to see how the election machines turn out in other areas,” Pedri said Wednesday.
Council’s vote will come before its makeup changes due to Tuesday’s election.
Voters reelected Tim McGinley and Robert Schnee and also chose LeeAnn McDermott, Walter Griffith, Stephen J. Urban and Kendra Radle, according to unofficial general election results.
The selected six will take office or start new terms Jan. 6 and serve with Harry Haas, Linda McClosky Houck, Chris Perry, Sheila Saidman and Matthew Vough. The four council members exiting on that date: Patrick Bilbow, Rick Morelli, Stephen A. Urban and Jane Walsh Waitkus.
Pedri said he wants to continue constructively working with the reorganized council, reiterating a focus on fiscal issues has yielded an A- credit rating, which is the highest the county has ever earned.
“We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. I don’t know why any of that would change,” Pedri said.