A Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas hearing is scheduled Monday on litigation attempting to force county Manager Romilda Crocamo to provide four mail ballot drop boxes for the Nov. 5 general election.
Meanwhile, the county’s three Democratic Election Board members reaffirmed their support for the drop boxes Wednesday as the board’s two minority Republican members called for a new vote on the matter in light of security concerns raised by the manager.
Regarding the court hearing, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania initiated the action on behalf of three mail ballot voters and the nonprofit In This Together NEPA over Crocamo’s drop box cancellation.
The emergency complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief argues Crocamo unilaterally superseded and negated the election board’s legal authority and decision to deploy four drop boxes. The state election code “confers on the board the authority and responsibility for running elections and election administration,” it said.
Crocamo said she cannot comment on pending litigation but has maintained she has authority over the matter under the county’s home rule charter because she is required to oversee personnel and security of county-owned property. She has said she discontinued the boxes primarily due to a fear they would be targeted, injuring people, property and the ballots inside.
Legal briefs are due by 4 p.m. Friday.
A panel of three county judges will preside over the matter: Lesa S. Gelb, Richard M. Hughes and Fred A. Pierantoni.
ACLU Attorneys Witold Walczak and Marian K. Schneider filed the litigation in conjunction with pro bono representation from Sarah L. Borland and Joseph C. Borland, of local firm Borland and Borland.
The defendants are Crocamo, in her official capacity as county manager, and the county Election Board, which must be named an “indispensable party to this action.”
The county law office is in the process of engaging outside legal counsel for Crocamo and the election board. Separate legal counsel will be necessary because the two county defendants have different positions.
Monday’s court hearing is at 10 a.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.
Election board
In February, the election board voted 3-2 along party lines to reject a motion to eliminate all four drop boxes.
Republican board members Alyssa Fusaro and Rick Morelli supported getting rid of the boxes, while the three Democrats wanted to keep them — Denise Williams, Albert Schlosser and Daniel Schramm.
The board’s next meeting is Wednesday night, and Morelli asked Williams, the board chair, to include a drop box vote on the agenda.
Morelli said a fresh vote is warranted based on Crocamo’s recent executive session briefing outlining security concerns that informed her decision to cancel the drop boxes.
“Another vote is necessary to hold the board members accountable. If the drop boxes are deployed and something happens, everyone on this board needs to be held accountable,” Morelli said.
A board majority vote to discontinue the boxes for the upcoming election would render the pending legal action moot, but Morelli insisted his request stems from a security concern and not the litigation.
He said a law enforcement intelligence alert and other information presented to the board convince him “without question” that there is a valid security concern. Morelli added he does not care if some other counties are still choosing to provide drop boxes because “other counties are not my responsibility.”
Fusaro, the board’s vice chair, said she shares Morelli’s concerns.
“I think ultimately the board should agree with the county manager in working to make this election as safe and transparent as possible. I feel that it is our duty to create safe voting practices for Luzerne County,” Fusaro said.
But Williams, Schramm and Schlosser said Crocamo’s briefing did not change their belief that the four boxes should be provided to voters as they were in prior elections.
Williams said she will place a vote on next week’s board agenda but does not believe it is necessary because the three members who voted to keep the boxes in February have not altered their stance or expressed any desire to do so.
Schramm said he does not believe drop boxes should be halted this close to an election and said some voters don’t trust their ballots will get to the election bureau in time through regular mail.
He believes existing video recording of the drop boxes is sufficient and does not believe anyone will risk the criminal ramifications of attempting to destroy the boxes and ballots.
In the event something occurs, he believes impacted voters would come forward and request new ballots, saying the checks and balances in place would prevent the acceptance of more than one vote.
Schlosser said the drop boxes provide another option for voters, including the elderly and disabled veterans. He said he is tired of continued assertions that “there’s all this fraud” involved in county drop boxes when he has received no evidence or arrests.
Schlosser said he would be the first one sounding the alarm if warranted because he was a victim of election fraud in 1978 when he ran for state representative.
His reporting of absentee ballot and election fraud back then led to an official federal investigation and charges against numerous individuals, according to past published reports.