Walter Griffith has enough petition signatures to remain on the May 16 primary election ballot in the Luzerne County controller’s race, county Judge William H. Amesbury decided Thursday afternoon.
Amesbury issued the ruling in response to a request for reconsideration filed by former county councilman Rick Morelli.
The judge had recently disqualified signatures on Griffith’s petition for a variety of legal reasons, leaving the Kingston Township resident with 251 signatures, or one more than required.
Morelli returned to court, asking the judge to void two more signatures.
In response, Griffith argued that he should receive credit for two additional signatures, contending they were removed twice — first by the election office when he turned in his petition and then by the judge.
In his ruling Thursday, Amesbury took off the two signatures cited by Morelli, and Griffith received credit for two.
The result: no net change.
Griffith has the 251 signatures needed to appear on the ballot, which means “the voters of Luzerne County will decide,” the judge wrote.
Griffith is the lone Republican on the ballot seeking a nomination for controller. Incumbent Controller Michelle Bednar is running without competition on the Democratic side in the primary.
“I’m happy that the citizens of Luzerne County can now decide whether they want me to be their controller or not in a democratic way,” Griffith said.
He received the ruling from the county election office during Thursday evening’s election board meeting. It was time-stamped as filed but had not been publicly posted in the county prothonotary’s office at that time.
Morelli said he was awaiting a copy of the ruling and wanted to review it with his legal counsel.
“I’m disappointed in the decision,” Morelli said. “I’ll determine if it makes sense to appeal, but I’m not going to hold up the whole election process because of this.”
According to the opinion, Amesbury launched an internal count of Griffith’s petitions after Morelli filed his emergency petition seeking reconsideration.
Amesbury said Griffith started out with 275 signature lines, and a total 24 were not accepted based on a decision by Amesbury or the election office, resulting in 251.
Griffith said he did not have time to seek a larger cushion of surplus signatures due to work and his determination to secure most of the signatures himself.
“I wanted to be able to knock on the doors and get a feel for what people thought about me. The response was overwhelming,” Griffith said.
Morelli said his challenge was not vindictive and reiterated that the process revealed several more signatures of voters who were not registered Republicans as required on Griffith’s petition. Some of these signatures were not voided by the judge because Morelli did not flag these names in his initial challenge.
Griffith and Morelli agree on one point: the petition signature process warrants revamping. When Griffith raised the issue Thursday, the election board and administration said they will discuss the matter.
