Luzerne County Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said Monday she has serious concerns about a proposed council ordinance that would prohibit the transporting of mail ballot drop boxes to board-approved sites.
The ordinance would essentially allow one government body — council — to block a decision made by an independent outside county board, said Williams, who has asked the county law division for a legal opinion on the matter.
Williams questioned if council ordinances will become a strategy to stop the board of volunteer citizens from carrying out other decisions. She noted new county Manager Randy Robertson recently stressed the need for the board, council and the administration to “stay in their lanes” regarding election oversight and management.
“There’s a lot of talk about staying in lanes. Is county council in the proper lane here? I’d like to know that,” Williams said.
The county law division has not yet released a legal opinion on the proposed ordinance drafted by county Councilman Stephen J. Urban, which is up for discussion but not a decision during Tuesday’s council work session. The session follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.
To advance, the ordinance would have to be introduced at a subsequent meeting by at least four of 11 council members and then adopted by a council majority during a separate future meeting following a public hearing.
No challenge
The county election board has been at the helm deciding whether drop boxes were used here from the start. Williams said Monday that county council and the county administration have never challenged the board’s jurisdiction.
Urban’s proposed ordinance would amend the county administrative code to say the county shall not “permit, utilize, fund or compensate any county employee, contractors, third party or any nonprofit groups to logistically move” any drop boxes for county primary, general or special elections.
The prohibition would automatically be repealed if the state passes legislation enacted by the governor “explicitly creating the legal usage of election drop boxes,” it said.
But Williams said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded state law allows county election boards to collect hand-delivered mail at locations other than their office address, including drop boxes.
As a result, she asked the county law office if council can supersede state case law by making the change.
Williams also noted the council-adopted administrative code already states the election board shall provide general supervision over all elections in accordance with the Pennsylvania State Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation. This bureau has issued guidance legally allowing ballot drop boxes based on the case law, she said.
“Is this going to be a way to usurp the role of the board?” Williams asked in reference to Urban’s ordinance.
Background
Initially, one drop box was provided in the lobby of the county-owned Penn Place building in downtown Wilkes-Barre for the November 2020 election.
On April 14, 2021, the four election board members seated at that time — Republicans Richard Nardone and Missy Thomas and Democrats Audrey Serniak and Kathryn Roth — unanimously voted to grant the election bureau’s request to provide three additional drop boxes for the May 2021 primary in Hazleton, Nanticoke and Pittston.
Williams, a Democrat, was appointed to the board chairmanship seat a week after this decision, records show. Council appoints four election board members (two Democrats and two Republicans), and those four election board members then choose a chair of any or no affiliation.
For the 2021 November general election, the board’s four seated members (Roth, Serniak, Nardone and Williams) approved the bureau’s recommendation to keep the Penn Place drop box, continue providing the boxes at the Pittston Memorial Library and Hazleton City Hall and switch the fourth box from Nanticoke City Hall to the Wright Township Volunteer Fire Department.
The board was down to four members because Thomas had resigned from the second Republican seat, and Patrick Castellani was appointed to fill that vacancy after the drop box decision.
In March, after heated debate and more public feedback about drop boxes, the board’s three Democrats — Williams, Serniak and Danny Schramm (Roth’s successor) — authorized drop boxes inside five buildings for the May primary election and going forward.
A box at Misericordia University in the Back Mountain was added, and the board chose to keep the boxes in Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton and Wright Township.
Republican board members Alyssa Fusaro and Castellani voted against the drop boxes at that time, and Castellani immediately resigned over the issue. He said he was not arguing or disputing the PA Supreme Court ruling that allows drop boxes at the discretion of each county, but he expressed concerns about “inherent risks” associated with drop boxes.
Council later appointed Jim Mangan to fill Castellani’s vacant seat.