As part of enhanced ballot-proofing measures, Luzerne County’s election bureau has publicly posted May 16 primary election sample ballots online for candidates to review, county Election Operations Manager Emily Cook announced Thursday.
The sample ballots are posted on the election page at luzernecounty.org.
All candidates seeking primary election nominations should carefully check that their information is correct on all ballots in which their name appears, Cook said.
There are approximately 370 different ballot “styles,” largely because there are 186 voting precincts. Each must have Democratic and Republican ballots. In addition, some precincts may have more than one ballot because they fall within two different school regions, Cook said.
The bureau is in the process of mailing a letter to all candidates providing a form they must sign and submit verifying they have reviewed the sample ballots for accuracy, she said. These letters must be promptly returned.
“This is important to ensure all ballots are accurate. We are proactively working to prevent errors,” Cook said.
Any candidates with questions and concerns should email elections@luzernecounty.org, Cook said.
The bureau sent preliminary email notices of the ballot proofing requirement to all candidates with valid emails on record. While some candidates already sent electronic confirmations that the information is correct, the bureau still wants all candidates to return the form that will be sent by regular mail, Cook said.
The next step will be asking the county election board to officially approve the ballots, she said.
Official ballots will then be posted online to help voters prepare for the upcoming election, Cook said. The official ballots also will be sent to the printer.
Earlier this month, the bureau had publicly posted a list of all candidates and asked them to alert the bureau if they spotted any errors.
The election bureau is attempting to prepare the ballot as early as possible and increase proofing to prevent ballot errors that surfaced in the last busy municipal election year, 2021, the bureau has said.