Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By MITCH MORRISON; Times Leader Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 24, 1995 Page: 1A
WILKES-BARRE — You thought the arena question was tough.
How about this one: should the three-member county election board certify
the results of the referendum question?
“We need to wait until the district attorney’s investigation is finished,”
said board member Jane Elmes-Crahall. The district attorney’s office is
investigatingwhether at least one voting machine was tampered with concerning
the arena question.
Rose Tucker, who chairs the board, already has criticized the referendum
election process, saying she worries there was widespread tampering. The third
board member, attorney Ruth Hughes, could not be reached for comment Tuesday
night.
Under state law, the quasi-judicial election board is empowered to throw
out the election. But that’s rare statewide and unprecedented in Luzerne
County, according to the board’s solicitor, Diane Kopcha-Katlic.
“There are so many different options the board can take,” said
Kopcha-Katlic. But the board must receive a formal request before deciding not
to certify the election results.
“For an election not to be certified, there has to be a widespread impact,”
Katlic said. “The petitioner would have to show in great detail that had the
errors not happened, the outcome would have been different.”
Otherwise, there are less drastic measures the board can take, she said.
The board could disqualify the results from the one impounded machine in
Nanticoke that showed 30 votes in favor of the arena and 59 against.
That machine takes on greater importance because of the close results of
this week’s recount in the referendum matter. It showed 77 more “no” votes
than “yes” votes.
The district attorney’s office impounded the machine on Monday because of
suspected vote fraud. The penalty for vote tampering is a maximum $1,000 fine
and up to five years in prison.
The board also could count only a portion of the votes cast on that
machine.
If other errors are cited in a petition, the board will review each one,
Kopcha-Katlic said.
Regardless of the board’s decision, the matter can be appealed to the
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.
On Monday, Tucker suggested the arena’s election results be tossed out and
that the three county commissioners decide the arena’s fate.
If the results were thrown out, it’s unclear whether the commissioners
could vote on funding for the project or be forced to place the issue on the
fall ballot. Tucker says she believes the commissioners could simply vote on
the funding.
But Kopcha-Katlic said, “It’s not clear-cut … I’d have to research the
matter.”