Poll workers are needed in multiple Luzerne County polling places for the Nov. 3 general election, county Election Director Emily Cook said during Wednesday’s county Election Board meeting.
Cook also briefed the board on mail ballot returns, and issues with some voters struggling with the Penn Place Building drop box in Wilkes-Barre were discussed.
The election bureau is seeking Election Day poll workers to fill vacancies or provide an “extra set of hands” in the following municipalities, Cook said: White Haven, Courtdale, Dallas, Edwardsville, New Columbus, Kingston, Larksville, Luzerne, and Swoyersville and the townships of Slocum, Rice, Conyngham, Bear Creek, Dallas, Franklin, Kingston, Plymouth, and Union.
Cook said openings surfaced because past poll workers determined they were unavailable or no longer interested.
Updates on changing needs will be posted on the county’s Facebook page, she said. Information is available on the election page at luzernecounty.org, and those interested should contact the bureau at 570-825-1715. Training will be scheduled for new poll workers, she said.
Regarding mail ballots, approximately 30,718 have been issued to date, Cook said.
Of those, 15,344 were returned by Wednesday, including 3,125 deposited at the county’s drop boxes in Hazleton City Hall, the Wilkes-Barre Penn Place Building lobby, and the election bureau on the second floor of Penn Place.
Election Board Chairwoman Christine Boyle asked if any postal delays were reported. Boyle said she mailed her ballot as a test and received notice within a few days that it was received by the bureau.
Cook said nobody informed her of postal delays.
Plains Township resident Joe Granteed said he spent a little over an hour Wednesday observing the Penn Place lobby drop box and witnessed some voters having difficulty feeding their ballots into the box. That included one man who had to leave his ballot partially fed while he went upstairs to the bureau to report the jam, Granteed said.
Granteed said the box slot’s angled position is causing the problem and said someone on staff should man the machine.
Standard mailbox-style drop boxes are used in Hazleton and the election bureau. The Penn Place lobby box has an opening fitted to the width of an envelope. It was purchased for $12,000 from Runbeck Election Services for its enhanced security features.
Cook said she will post a sign instructing voters to visit the election bureau if they are having difficulty with the box. The bureau has reported instances of jamming to the vendor and is rapidly sending someone downstairs to assist when jams are reported, she said. The bureau does not have enough staff to man the box full-time, she said.
County Councilwoman Denise Williams, a past election board chair, agreed with Granteed, saying that box is “not user-friendly.” She suggested replacing it with an unused mailbox-style box, noting the county has security camera surveillance of all drop boxes.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo said she will follow the board’s directive if it decides to change the type of box deployed in the Penn Place lobby.