Luzerne County Election Board chairwoman calls for staffing to keep two of four mail ballot drop boxes

Luzerne County Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams is calling for the county to provide and staff two mail ballot drop boxes in Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre for the Nov. 5 general election.

Williams said she did not initially object to county Manager Romilda Crocamo’s decision to eliminate all four drop boxes due to security concerns. She said she has subsequently processed all Crocamo’s statements on the matter and now believes there is a safe, attainable alternative.

Specifically, she said the county should retain temporary workers to man the two boxes for the several weeks they are in use if no employees are available to perform this work.

Williams said the county can use a portion of the $1 million from the state’s Election Integrity Grant for this expense under the security eligibility category.

The workers manning the drop boxes could ensure voters are delivering their own ballot or verify box visitors have a required form if they are delivering on behalf of disabled voters.

These workers could receive panic button software and radios from county emergency services that the county administration plans to provide to poll workers, Williams said.

“There is money there, and I don’t think that would be too much to ask. Let’s compromise,” Williams said. “The bottom line is if there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Crocamo’s Monday response: “Prior to making my decision, I did consider those options, but those options make the situation even more unsafe and less secure.”

The boxes Williams wants to retain would be inside two county-owned properties — the Broad Street Exchange in downtown Hazleton and the Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Instead of a box in the Penn Place vestibule, Crocamo has said voters can go through security and deliver their mail ballots to the election bureau on the second floor.

Williams said keeping the Penn Place box in the vestibule with someone manning it would be more convenient for voters and “cut back on people going into the bureau,” which is pressed to handle other tasks.

She noted sheriff deputies are stationed near the Penn Place box if a person manning the box has an issue.

Williams said she shared her recommended compromise with Crocamo on Friday.

Crocamo has cited heightened security concerns for the upcoming election, but Williams said she does not believe it warrants elimination of all four boxes.

“There’s been an outcry from a lot of voters, and I can understand their feelings that all this was taken away from then,” Williams said.

The other two boxes were in the Wright Manor senior living facility in Mountain Top, which is owned by the county Housing Authority, and Misericordia University’s Passan Hall in Dallas.