Luzerne County finishes mail ballot counting

Shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday, Luzerne County finished counting all 57,066 mail ballots that had been received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, county Manager C. David Pedri said in an announcement that opened with the message, “Done and Done!”

“I specifically want to thank the over 50 county employees who worked incredibly hard to finalize this count today. They are the very definition of true public servants, and I am truly honored to work with them,” Pedri said.

County Election Director Shelby Watchilla also thanked workers and said counting the mail ballots accurately and as fast as possible was a priority.

A new automated enveloper was a major reason workers were able to process more ballots in less time than they had in the June 2 primary, she said, noting the equipment did not damage one envelope.

“Luzerne County employees pulled together and worked long hours to see it through and provide timely results to the voters of this county,” Watchilla said. “Numerous media outlets and party observers watched the entire process from beginning to end, and it was completely transparent. There was nothing nefarious that went on.”

Additional county workers were sworn in and assigned to process the ballots Wednesday with the goal of finishing the count late Wednesday or early Thursday, Pedri said.

Workers were “moving at a pace of 3,000 an hour,” he said in the afternoon.

County Information Technology Director Mauro DiMauro said workers reached a peak of 3,500 ballots counted per hour at one point in a third-floor courtroom at the county’s Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

“It is going very smooth, very quick,” DiMauro said in the early evening Wednesday.

The county reported a total 149,033 votes cast overall, which includes those from the electronic voting systems at polling places and mailed ballot results.

That brings the voter turnout to 67.91% and approaching predictions of 69% to 70%.

Provisional ballots

Independent of these votes, 2,000 to 3,000 provisional ballots also must be reviewed and may be added to the count, Pedri said. Provisional ballots are marked by hand and reviewed last as part of an adjudication process to verify the voters are eligible and did not already cast a mail ballot.

Unofficial county vote result are posted at luzernecounty.org.

Segregated ballots

None of these figures will factor in mail ballots received in the three days following the election. County officials are segregating those ballots and won’t add them to the count until the U.S. Supreme Court decides if it will issue an opinion on whether they should be counted, officials said. The state Supreme Court had ruled the ballots could be counted.

Pedri said the county received less than 200 mail ballots Wednesday that had been postmarked before the Nov. 3 general election. Again, they are not being included in counts at this time.

The county will review these segregated ballots at 3 p.m. on Friday.

What’s next?

The five-member county Election Board, which includes both Republicans and Democrats, tentatively plans to meet Monday to start the adjudication process, said board Vice Chairman Peter Ouellette.

In addition to determinations on each provisional ballot, the board must review mail ballots that have been flagged for various issues, such as rips, extraneous markings and the selection of more than the allowable number of candidates in a race, which is known as “overvoting,” said county Assistant Solicitor Michael Butera.

Overvoting in one race does not prohibit the board from accepting selections in the rest of the ballot, he said.

Based on a court ruling, the election board will be forced to throw out mail ballots if they are missing the voter’s signature on the outer mailing envelope or the ballot was not first placed inside a secrecy envelope, now known as a “naked ballot,” Butera said.

Ouellette said hundreds of county ballots were “naked” despite repeated public awareness messages about the requirement.

If workers encountered naked ballots during pre-canvassing on Election Day, the voter’s party was informed so it could attempt to contact the voter, Pedri said. Voters who were reached had the option to vote by provisional ballot at their polling places before 8 p.m., he said.

However, this remedy was not available for naked ballots discovered in processing that occurred after 8 p.m. on Election Day, officials have said.

The adjudication will be completed at Penn Place, with details to be announced, Ouellette said.

Public observation seats were mostly empty during adjudication in the June 2 primary.

“It’s all open to the public, and we encourage people to come and look at what we’re doing,” Ouellette said. “We have nothing to hide.”