Luzerne County still short of poll workers

Luzerne County’s election office estimates it will need at least 560 poll workers in the June 2 primary election but had only approximately 300 confirmed to work as of Friday, according to a report submitted to council.

The shortage was expected because most election workers are over 65 and more vulnerable to the coronavirus, officials have said.

Residents interested in working on Election Day can fill out the online application on the election department section at www.luzernecounty.org or contact the election office at 570-825-1715.

In response to coronavirus concerns, the county election board voted last week to increase poll worker pay for both the 2020 primary and general.

The election day compensation — $100 for clerks, $125 for machine operators and inspectors and $150 for judges — will be increased to $200 for judges and $195 for the others, the board said.

While the move was intended to attract poll workers, county Manager C. David Pedri informed council that the board-approved pay increase may cause the election department to exceed the $192,000 budget allotment council had provided for poll worker compensation.

Council members Linda McClosky Houck and Walter Griffith said the poll worker pay increase might be covered by state funding earmarked to counties for coronavirus-related election expenses — a funding stream that Pedri tapped to send mail-in voting applications to all registered Democrats and Republicans.

Pedri said Monday he will research that possibility. Griffith also requested an accounting of all additional election expenses and available funding.

Before coronavirus, the county had planned on needing about 1,000 poll workers, but state legislators allowed counties to temporarily consolidate and reduce polling locations due to pandemic-related challenges securing staffing and sites.

Luzerne County reduced its polling locations from 144 to 58, keeping and adding larger spaces to allow for social distancing and more ventilation.

Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday he does not intend to seek another election postponement or foresee any serious plans to do so by state legislators.

Although he reiterated a push for voters to consider mail-in voting, Wolf has said voters are free to head to the polls on June 2 if they want to vote in person because elections are considered an essential activity.

As of Monday, the county had received more than 27,000 applications from registered voters interested in voting by mail — an option now available with no excuse or reason required under state legislation approved late last year.

The new tally means about 3,000 additional voters applied for mail-in voting in less than a week. The application deadline is May 26.

Under a plan finalized last week, non-disabled county voters casting their ballots in person will sign in with electronic poll books and then receive a take-home pen and a paper ballot to fill out and feed into a scanner to be tabulated and stored.

Pedri said Monday he has not yet confirmed whether a take-home stylus also will be secured for the electronic poll books. If not, the stylus that comes with the books would have to be cleaned between uses, he said.

Voters with vision impairments or other disabilities preventing them from voting on paper unassisted will have access to a touchscreen electronic ballot marking device set up at each polling location.

The state is providing additional sanitizing equipment to each county.

A link to all location changes and other information has been posted under a large 2020 presidential election banner at www.luzernecounty.org. Click here to view a Times Leader article answering some questions and concerns raised about mail-in voting.