Voter turnout was light for Tuesday’s special election in 18 Luzerne County municipalities.
The election was held to replace former state Sen. John Gordner in a district covering portions of Luzerne, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder counties.
Two candidates appeared on the ballot: Democrat Patricia L. Lawton and Republican Lynda J. Schlegel Culver. A sufficient volume of unofficial results had not been reported for the race to be called as of deadline, although Schlegel Culver was in the lead.
In total, 34,047 Luzerne County voters were registered to cast ballots in the special election.
The county ended up with an unofficial tally of 6,032 votes cast, for a 17.72% turnout, according to county Administrative Services Division Head Jennifer Pecora.
Of those, 2,675 were mail ballots, with the rest cast at polling places, according to the election bureau.
Schlegel Culver received 3,603 votes in Luzerne County, compared to 2,408 for Lawton, the unofficial results show.
Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said the processing of mail ballots, known as pre-canvassing, had wrapped up around 11:30 a.m. in a courtroom at the county’s Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
The board identified around 24 mail ballots with deficiencies that prevent them from being counted, Williams said. A list of these voters was provided to political party leaders so they could attempt to contact the voters and offer them the opportunity to cast paper provisional ballots at their polling places.
In total, 4,888 mail ballots were issued, which means more than half returned them.
Williams said the only issue brought to the board’s attention was a decision by the election bureau to send updated lists to some polling places identifying which voters are recorded as returning their mail ballots.
County Acting Election Director Beth McBride said this information, although helpful to poll workers, has no impact because the poll books already identify all voters who requested mail ballots.
Mail ballot voters cannot cast a regular ballot at their polling place unless they surrender their mail ballot and envelopes to poll workers to be voided, or spoiled, she said. Unless that occurs, all voters who requested mail ballots only have the option to cast provisional ballots at the polls. Provisional ballots are reviewed by the election board during adjudication to ensure no voters submit both a mail ballot and one at the polls, officials said.
Williams said there were no complaints about polling places opening late or issues with the electronic poll books or tabulator scanners.
The election board had unanimously voted to return to electronic poll books for voter sign-in instead of paper poll books the election bureau had opted to use in the Nov. 8 general election.
Although McBride had reservations the electronic books were becoming obsolete and creating issues for poll workers, she complied with the board’s directive and completed electronic poll book testing and training for the special election. McBride said she is encouraged that the electronic poll books worked as intended because she supports the technology. The electronic books allow poll workers to instantly search voters to check their registration and identify their correct polling place if they are at the wrong location, officials say.
“I’m hopeful we can use them for the May primary election as well,” McBride said.
As a backup, the bureau printed paper poll books in-house, she said.
The county purchased the poll books for $325,000 in 2018, with the promise the equipment would speed up and improve the processing of voters as they enter polling places, with voters signing in using a stylus on a tablet.
Voters in the following Luzerne County municipalities were eligible to cast ballots: the townships of Black Creek, Butler, Conyngham, Dorrance, Fairview, Hollenback, Huntington, Nescopeck, Rice, Salem, Slocum, Sugarloaf and Wright and the boroughs of Conyngham, Nescopeck, New Columbus, Nuangola and Shickshinny.
Williams said the board’s special election adjudication process will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the Penn Place Building at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Market Street.