Expect waits for new on-demand voting, Luzerne County official warns

Luzerne County voters should be prepared to wait if they are interested in a new on-demand, ballot-casting option, county Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik warned.

A line of voters formed again at the county’s Penn Place building in downtown Wilkes-Barre on Friday, the second day on-the-spot voting was available.

The county election bureau is trying to service requests as quickly as possible, but two factors increase the wait time, Parsnik said:

• Each ballot casting takes about a half hour from start to finish. Voters must submit a mail-in voting application at the bureau counter. After reviewing and approving the request, election staffers must assemble a ballot and envelope packet. The voter must then fill out the ballot and insert it in the correct envelopes with proper signatures so it can be cast.

• Only three voters are simultaneously permitted in the bureau to allow for social distancing due to the coronavirus.

“We have limited space and have to complete multiple steps to comply. I’m sure other counties are encountering the same issues,” Parsnik said.

County Election Director Shelby Watchilla said her staff also must allow voters time to make selections on their ballot without rushing them.

The bureau processed on-the-spot voting requests from 29 residents on Thursday and 55 residents on Friday, Watchilla said.

Most voters waited at least an hour for their turn at the bureau counter Friday, Watchilla said.

As a result, the bureau will accept on-demand requests from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. instead of 4:30 p.m. starting Monday, she said.

A computer linked to the voting record system also will be moved to the Penn Place lobby Monday to ensure all voters are prescreened for eligibility, Watchilla said. On Thursday and Friday, a worker had to move back and forth from the lobby to a second-floor bureau computer for such checks.

Screening is warranted because some voters seeking on-the-spot ballots already had applied for mail-in ballots, making them ineligible, county officials said.

On-the-spot voting will only be available until Oct. 27, which is also the last day for voters to request mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 general, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Voters also are making use of a new mail-in ballot drop-off box in the Penn Place lobby, which can be accessed on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In total, 254 ballots were deposited in the box Thursday and Friday, Watchilla said.

During a media briefing last week, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar stressed mail ballot voters using drop-off boxes must still insert their ballots in both a plain white secrecy envelope and then an outer return envelope for their ballot to count. Voters also must sign the declaration on the outer envelope.

Boockvar said she has received some reports that voters using drop-off boxes are depositing only the ballot in the secrecy envelope.

Watchilla said there were no ballots in only the secrecy envelope in the county’s box.

The county has mailed ballots to more than 65,000 voters who requested them so far, Watchilla said.

Statewide, more than 2.7 million have requested mailed ballots to date, Boockvar said last week. Of the 2.66 million confirmed for mailing so far, approximately 26% already have been completed and returned, she said.

Voter registration

Monday is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election. Watchilla emphasized voters dropping off registration applications will be permitted to do so immediately without waiting in the on-demand voting line.

The county now has 218,333 registered voters, according to the latest Oct. 13 state update. The breakdown: Democrats, 105,761; Republicans, 84,932; no affiliation, 20,445; other, 7,195.

Statewide, 8.98 million voters are now registered statewide, Boockvar said, expressing optimism the number will hit the 9 million mark by Monday’s deadline.

The statewide registration breakdown to date: Democrats, 4,199,412; Republicans, 3,494,255, no affiliation, 890,756; and other, 398,765.