Luzerne County voters take advantage of new on-demand, ballot-casting option

Luzerne County’s election bureau processed on-the-spot voting requests from 29 residents Thursday — the first day the new option was available, said county Election Director Shelby Watchilla.

Registered voters who have not requested mail-in ballots can now visit their county election offices to vote on the spot instead of casting ballots in-person at the polls on Election Day, officials said.

For this on-demand format, voters must submit a mail-in voting application at the bureau counter. If the request is approved, election staffers assemble a ballot and envelope packet so the voter can fill it out and cast a ballot in the same visit.

This option was bundled in the state’s bipartisan Act 77 election reforms passed last year, which was the same legislation allowing mail-in voting with no excuse or reason provided.

On-the-spot voting will only be available until Oct. 27, which is also the last day for voters to request mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 general, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Some voters who appeared at the county’s Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre for on-the-spot voting Thursday were not eligible because they already had requested a mail-in ballot, county officials said.

As a line of waiting voters snaked outside the building, county Election Director Shelby Watchilla stationed a worker in the lobby area to obtain their names and check in the voting database to determine if they had applied for mail-in ballots, making them ineligible. Some left when they learned they were not eligible, officials said.

The bureau also allotted only four hours for on-the-spot voting on the first day because it had to await a shipment of required envelopes, Watchilla said.

Going forward, the bureau will process on-demand voting requests weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until Oct. 27, Watchilla said.

Only three voters are simultaneously permitted in the bureau to allow for social distancing, Watchilla said.

“This is an option, but people should allow time because there is no way of knowing how many voters will show up,” Watchilla cautioned.

Several county residents had criticized the new state-mandated option at a recent county election board meeting, saying it would tie up election staff busy with other duties and potentially draw crowds to Penn Place during the continuing pandemic.

But left with no choice in fulfilling the state requirement, county Manager C. David Pedri had a “vote here” banner hung outside Penn Place Thursday to help voters identify the site at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Market Street.

Pedri also alerted mail-in voters that a mail-in ballot drop-off box is now available inside the Penn Place lobby on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., saying the hours will be extended closer to the election.

The county has mailed ballots to all 60,575 voters who requested them so far for the Nov. 3 general election, with same-day processing and mailing planned for additional requests, Watchilla said.

Five ballots were deposited in the new Penn Place box Thursday.

Six free parking spaces reserved with orange bags are available outside Penn Place for voters, Pedri said, thanking city officials for making those arrangements.

Two sheriff deputies will be stationed by the drop box and jointly deliver the contents to a locked room inside the second-floor election bureau that is monitored by security cameras at all times, officials said.