People walk outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington last year. A Congressional committee said it will proceed with next week’s hearing about Luzerne County’s November 2022 election paper shortage.
AP file photo
In a strongly worded statement Tuesday, a Congressional committee said it will proceed with next week’s hearing about Luzerne County’s November 2022 election paper shortage at the U.S. Capitol, even though invited county officials won’t be appearing.
“The committee wanted to give Luzerne County the opportunity to answer basic questions about how this was able to happen, but they’ve refused. While it’s disappointing that after five months they will still leave voters in the dark, the committee will move forward with the hearing,” said the Committee on House Administration statement released through a spokesperson in response to a media inquiry.
It continued: “We have information from real voters whose votes were suppressed by this election disaster and they deserve to be heard. With another election just around the corner, we need to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Transparency is key to ensuring voters have faith in elections.”
All three invited county officials said Monday they won’t attend the hearing, primarily because the county District Attorney’s Office is still actively investigating the paper shortage. The officials are: county Deputy Election Director Beth Gilbert, Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams and County Council Chairwoman Kendra Radle.
Williams said the county law office advised her against attending due to the pending DA investigation.
County Acting Manager Brian Swetz also said he does not support in-person attendance because of the active county investigation and need for the county to focus on preparing for the May 16 primary election. The ongoing investigation here is evidence county officials are serious about getting answers, he said.
County DA Sam Sanguedolce said Tuesday his office is thoroughly investigating the cause and effect of the Nov. 8 election paper problem. Every detective in his office is involved in some capacity, and they have interviewed more than a hundred individuals, including election bureau workers, polling place workers and voters, the DA said.
Sanguedolce said he cannot specify a report release date, stressing again that, as with any investigation, “it is more important to have a complete and correct result rather than a quick one.”
The final report will be reviewed and approved by everyone involved, which includes “quite a few people working in the case,” he said. Once completed, the DA’s Office will review the results with county officials prior to its public release, he said.
“Because of the amount of coordination required, it would be a disservice to try to estimate a timeline, especially not knowing what other unforeseen events may come along which could interfere with an estimate,” Sanguedolce said. “Short of saying we are working diligently to complete the matter, we really cannot say more.”
In addition to the three Luzerne County officials, the Congressional committee invited three others — two state and one federal — to participate in the hearing called “Government Voter Suppression in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.” Set for March 28 in Washington, D.C., it promises to examine “how a severe shortage of available Election Day ballots provided by Luzerne County effectively closed polling locations and prevented thousands of Pennsylvanians from exercising their right to vote in the 2022 midterm election.”
The others receiving invitations to testify: Jonathan Marks, Deputy Secretary of State for Elections and Commissions; Don Palmer, Commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission; and someone handling duties of the vacant position directing the state’s Bureau of Election Security and Testing.
The Pennsylvania Department of State media office said Tuesday it is reviewing the invitation and has no comment at this time on the attendance plans of the two state officials.
Gilbert, who had served as acting election director during the November 2022 general, said Monday she would be “more than happy to comply with any requests for testimony after the upcoming primary. Engaging in an open forum before the DA’s active investigation is completed and less than 60 days before a municipal election would be “deeply inappropriate,” she had said.
”If this request is entertained, political posturing and unnecessary distractions will undoubtedly lead to erroneous faults in the upcoming election. This is not in the best interest of the voters of whom I serve in Luzerne County,” Gilbert had said.
Radle also noted county council is not directly involved in election oversight under the county’s home rule government structure.
The Congressional hearing is set for 10:30 a.m. March 28 in the Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C.
For those interested in remotely viewing the hearing, it will be livestreamed on the YouTube page of the Committee on House Administration, which is chaired by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin. The link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY58Sww8iwc.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
