After listening to an hour of public comment for and against mail ballot drop boxes, a Luzerne County Election Board majority conditionally voted Wednesday to add a fifth box in Duryea for the November general election.
The decision was along party lines on the five-citizen, volunteer board, with yes votes from Democrats Denise Williams, Daniel Schramm and Albert Schlosser and no votes from Republican board members Alyssa Fusaro and Rick Morelli.
Before that vote, Fusaro and Morelli unsuccessfully voted to eliminate all four current drop boxes — effective immediately. That action was rejected by the other three.
The addition of a box in the lobby of the Frank P. Crossin Towers in Duryea would hinge on a willingness from the facility’s management, the availability of funding for a security camera and verification that the facility has ample parking and is accessible to those with disabilities.
The county also would need to order another mailbox-style drop box because the one previously purchased for a former box location in the Pittston Memorial Library is now used at the county’s Penn Place building in Wilkes-Barre.
Election bureau management said there would not be enough time to complete these steps in time for the April 23 primary election as originally proposed by Williams, the board chair.
In total, 32 county residents provided comment on the boxes in person, virtually, through email or by phone. The group was evenly divided on the drop box issue.
Williams said the Duryea box would restore the board’s original plan to provide a box in the county’s northern end so all regions could be covered. She suggested Frank J. Crossin Towers because it is operated by the county Housing Authority, which also owns another property that hosts a box — the Wright Manor assisted living facility in Mountain Top.
In addition to Wright Manor, the county has drop boxes at Misericordia University in Dallas and two county-owned properties — the Broad Street Exchange in downtown Hazleton and the Penn Place building in downtown Wilkes-Barre, which houses the election bureau and other county offices.
Schlosser asked how many people have been arrested for fraud and convicted in connection with the drop boxes.
Williams said she is not aware of any confirmed cases of criminal activity related to county drop boxes.
Morelli thanked all citizens for their comments.
Fusaro raised concerns about findings in a bi-partisan sample review of drop box video surveillance completed in December by prior board members Jim Mangan and Audrey Serniak.
Fusaro said the review found the number of voters dropping off ballots at two locations was significantly less than the number of ballots reported as received. The election bureau has been unable to locate a sheriff log sheet documenting the ballot retrievals for those time periods at the two locations, she said, stressing the sheriff’s office is not responsible for maintaining that documention because it had been turned over to the bureau.
“The people of Luzerne County deserve integrity in their elections. Though the drop boxes have been surveilled, they have not been properly monitored as promised. And in the one instance in which the footage was reviewed, there are unexplainable extra ballots. We have all seen the video footage of ballot box misuse in other counties, and I don’t want to see that happen here,” Fusaro said.
She asserted drop boxes have “outlived their usefulness and have actually brought dissention to our community and a lack of integrity to our election process.”
Williams said she has questions about this bi-partisan review process because the board never discussed the procedure that would be used in advance to ensure no frames of footage were missed when a computer mouse was used to fast forward. She said she was not aware the sheriff log could not be located and will seek further discussion at an upcoming board meeting to determine if the numbers are flawed.
In other business Wednesday, the board unanimously selected Fusaro as board vice chair — a post previously held by Mangan.
The election bureau also reported the Pennsylvania Department of State has approved the board’s request to include an explanation of a county government study commission referendum with April 23 primary election mail ballots.
This explanation must be posted at polling places on Election Day.