Luzerne County Election Board wraps up its review of Nov. 3 ballots

Luzerne County’s Election Board finished its adjudication of Nov. 3 ballots on Tuesday and has one more requirement remaining — official certification of the results.

The board is set to formally certify, or sign off on, a final computation of the votes cast in each race on Monday, which is the deadline under state law, officials said.

President Donald Trump’s campaign has a pending lawsuit, currently playing out in federal court in Williamsport, attempting to stop the state from certifying its election.

County assistant solicitor Paula L. Radick said there is no court-ordered stay in place to halt certification, but the county would comply if one is issued.

The county election board of two Republicans and three Democrats observed the unsealing of mail ballots that started at 7 a.m. on Election Day and went on to review flagged mail ballots and 3,648 provisional ballots to verify the voters were registered and had not already cast mail ballots.

In total, the unpaid election board members spent more than 76 hours scrutinizing ballots, board Vice Chairman Peter Ouellette said Tuesday.

“We did an excellent job. I don’t think anyone has a reason to question the outcome of the race or how we proceeded,” said Ouellette, a Democrat.

Board member Keith Gould, a Republican, said the board followed the law in its decisions to ensure each legally cast vote was counted, with no consideration of the party affiliation of any voters and checks and balances in place.

“I had no concerns up to this point, and if I did, I would have brought them up,” Gould said.

But board member Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt, a Republican, said Tuesday afternoon she does not plan to vote to certify the election unless she obtains access to additional information or satisfactory answers to her lingering questions. She said she is in the process of detailing her outstanding concerns for fellow board members and the election bureau.

For example, she said she wants to review the ballots that were voided/spoiled at polling places. She also said she wants an audit of at least 10% of the ballots.

“As an elections board member, I will not be told by anyone how to proceed in our elections process!” she wrote in an email to county officials.

County Election Director Shelby Watchilla said the county already complies with state election audit requirements, which include an automatic 2% recount.

County Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo said she is reviewing Dombroski-Gebhardt’s request to audit at least 10% and will issue a response.

Despite discussion of plans, county Republicans and Democrats did not follow through with challenges over the board’s denial of a small number of provisional and mail ballots, county assistant solicitor Michael Butera said Tuesday.

The election board spent Monday and Tuesday publicly reviewing approximately 2,600 ballots containing write-in votes or issues requiring adjudication, such as selections crossed out or more than the allowable number of candidates selected in a particular race.

Gould said some voters inexplicably selected both candidates for president and throughout their ballot, instead of the one allowed in each race. Board members had to review each of these ballots on a screen projection to make sure they were not missing any attempts to cross out one.

The board also had to process the usual write-ins for cartoon characters and celebrities, Gould said.

“It just slows the process,” he said of those picking every candidate or making joke selections.

Write-in results were added to the county’s unofficial results at luzernecounty.org, although those obviously not serious were lumped in a category dubbed “scattered” and not itemized.

Based on the unofficial results, county turnout was 69.76%, with 154,134 ballots cast.

The county results do not factor in 255 mail ballots received in the three days following the Nov. 3 election.

County officials are segregating those ballots statewide and won’t add them to vote tallies 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.

Unsure if more time would have been needed for the adjudication, the board made the call Monday to postpone Wednesday’s board meeting a week, said Ouellette and Gould. The virtual meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 25.

Nearly 7 million voted

More than 6.9 million Pennsylvania residents voted by mail or at the polls in the Nov. 3 general election, exceeding the turnout in every presidential election since at least 1960, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar announced Tuesday.

Turnout among the state’s voting-age population was 70.93%, which exceeded the previous record of 70.3% in 1960, Boockvar said.

“I am thrilled with the voter engagement and record turnout in this year’s election, which truly reflects the vitality of our democracy,” Boockvar said, crediting election officials and poll workers.

Pennsylvania broke another record in October, when voter registration exceeded 9 million for the first time, she said.

Most provisional and overseas military and provisional ballots have been counted by counties, Boockvar said. Up-to-date election returns can be found at votesPA.com.