Luzerne County keeping promise to check election ballot with other counties in shared school districts

As promised when an error was detected in 2023, Luzerne County election bureau representatives visited Wyoming County Monday to verify shared races are correct on the upcoming ballot.

Three Luzerne County officials met with Wyoming County Election Director Florence Kellett to finalize the ballot — Election Director Emily Cook, Deputy Election Director Steve Hahn and Administrative Services Division Head Jim Rose.

“I am pleased to announce that the Luzerne County Election Bureau is actively fulfilling the promises made during the last municipal election,” Rose said. “We committed to reaching out to Wyoming County that shares school districts with the Wyoming Area and Lake-Lehman School Districts to ensure a smooth collaboration and prevent any potential glitches or oversights.”

Rose added that the bureau “remains dedicated to making our elections more efficient and transparent.”

“We are continuously working towards enhancing the integrity and fairness of the electoral process to best serve the residents of Luzerne County,” he said.

The Nov. 7, 2023, general election error was for a two-year seat on the Wyoming Area School Board. Luzerne County’s election bureau did not notify Wyoming County’s election office that Nick DeAngelo should be removed from that county’s ballot because he withdrew and that Independent candidates Philip Campenni and Erica Gazda must be added to the ballot because they filed candidacy petitions after the primary.

Wyoming County has one municipality — Exeter Township — in the Wyoming Area School District, and DeAngelo was the lone candidate on the ballot for the two-year board seat.

No corrective special election was held because the number of votes cast in the Wyoming County municipality would not have changed the outcome due to Campenni’s winning vote tally in Luzerne County municipalities, officials said.

The prior election director accepted responsibility for the failure, and no remedial action was possible because the problem was discovered on Election Day.

Going forward, the bureau said it would personally meet with other counties to ensure all candidates are correct in “split districts” that include municipalities outside Luzerne County.

Shortly before the 2023 general election, Carbon County officials discovered two Hazleton Area School Board candidates were missing from mail ballots sent to 62 voters in two municipalities — Beaver Meadows borough and Banks Township. New mail ballots were issued to impacted voters, and the omission was corrected on ballots at polling places.

In that case, Luzerne County’s Election Bureau was not at fault because it had issued an official communication to Carbon County stating the correct candidates and followed up with a phone contact to verify that Carbon’s election office had all needed information, officials said.

A portion of the Hazleton Area School District also falls in Schuylkill County.

Cook said a visit to Carbon County’s election bureau is scheduled later this week, followed by Schuylkill County next week.

In comparison, Columbia County’s election bureau takes the lead in notifying Luzerne County about the Berwick Area School Board ballot impacting both counties, Cook said.