As part of ballot-proofing measures, Luzerne County’s election bureau has publicly posted sample April 23 primary election ballots for candidates and the public to review, county Acting Election Director Emily Cook said Tuesday.
“We’re just trying to get as many eyes as possible, as early as possible, to view each aspect of these ballots to make sure we get everything totally correct,” Cook said.
The sample ballots are posted on the election bureau page at luzernecounty.org.
Anyone spotting an issue should email elections@luzernecounty.org, Cook said.
In total, the election bureau generated 561 different ballot “styles” for the upcoming primary, Cook said.
The county is carved into 187 separate zones for voting purposes because there are 186 standard voting precincts and one split off based on Congressional boundaries, she said.
Each must have ballots customized for three groups — Republicans, Democrats and voters not registered in those parties.
Although Pennsylvania has closed primaries, county voters of other affiliations or no affiliation will have an opportunity to decide if the county should convene a government study commission and choose seven citizens to serve on the panel if it is activated by a majority of county voters.
Cook noted the bureau actually must proof 1,683 ballots — 561 multiplied by three — because each ballot must be produced on paper for mail ballot and provisional voters, on screens for ballot marking devices used at polling places and by audio for the hearing impaired.
Proofing is encouraged by candidates and all election stakeholders, including voters, because one person could notice something missed by others, Cook said, noting a few detections already have been forwarded for correction.
Updated versions will be posted in coming days to include any corrections and an official Spanish language translation, she said.
“I want to make sure people know this is not the final ballot. This is round one of proofing,” she said.
While this is not a local-level election year, the county Republican Party has two committee seats open in each voting precinct, or a total 372.
Based on a review of the list, 71 precincts have at least two candidates on the ballot. The remaining 115 precincts have only one candidate or no candidates, which means winners will be selected through write-in votes.
Study commission
The administration is still assessing options to fit all 17 study commission candidates on one screen of the ballot marking devices so scrolling is not required, county Manager Romilda Crocamo said Tuesday.
Deviation from the standard single-column layout would require approval from the Pennsylvania Department of State, Crocamo said.
Study commission candidate Matthew Mitchell, a prior county council member, has advocated placement of everyone on the same screen, saying that approach would be “more fair.”
In the November general election, 10 county council candidates appeared on the screen, while voters had to touch a scroll-down box to see the names of the remaining two candidates — Mitchell and Kimberly Platek. Mitchell said he received calls the morning of the election from voters indicating they could not find his name.
If the same layout would be used again, scrolling would be required to find seven candidates, he said. Mitchell said eliminating some of the white space on the screen could allow all candidates to appear together without making the wording too small.
Crocamo said she and election bureau representatives have been working on the ballot layout with voting system supplier Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which handles the programming.
The layout must be “carefully crafted to provide equal visibility to all candidates, without any bias or disadvantage to any individual,” she has said.
There is precedent for two-column candidates on the ballot. Past county election director Leonard Piazza said he worked with prior voting system supplier, Election Systems and Software, to get larger contests on two columns of the ballot marking device to alleviate concerns there would be too much scrolling.
An example was the 2011 race for the initial 11-member council under home rule, when 33 Democrats and 16 Republicans sought their party’s nominations.
Election board
Another ballot-related issue is slated for discussion at Wednesday’s county election board meeting.
The board is seeking a county law office opinion on whether mail ballot selections should be counted when voters circle yes or no on a ballot question or circle a candidate’s name instead of shading in the ovals as instructed.
Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said the question has come up several times during post-election adjudication. A legal opinion is warranted ahead of time so the board can determine how it should proceed in advance, she said.