Luzerne County asks more than 500 primary election candidates to verify ballot information

The more than 500 candidates set to appear on Luzerne County’s May 20 primary election ballot must review their information to ensure it is correct, county Election Director Emily Cook said Thursday.

Cook said her office sent verification letters to all candidates who filed nomination petitions and other paperwork by this week’s deadline.

The letters provide the candidate’s name, political party, office sought and the office term length for their review. This information — including the format and spelling of names — will be used for ballot programming, Cook said.

”This is important because now is the time to correct it,” Cook said.

Candidates who detect issues with the information on record should email elections@luzernecounty.org before March 24. The election bureau also asked candidates to sign and return the mailed paper form stating whether they have a correction and, if so, the date they emailed the bureau to report it.

Prompt response is necessary because the county must finalize ballots to start required public “logic and accuracy” testing of all ballot marking devices and scanner tabulators in early April, Cook said.

The verification mailings also force candidate involvement in the ballot proofing process, she said.

“This now puts it on them if they have not verified this information,” Cook said of candidates. “We reach out to them with the information and give them the opportunity to correct it.”

The number of primary election candidates is high because this is a local election year with many municipal, school, and county races, including tax collectors, election inspectors, and judges of elections.

Countywide, voters will collectively select candidates for approximately 646 contests this year, Cook said.

Republicans and Democrats choose their nominees in the primary, and those candidates then advance to the Nov. 4 general election, when all county voters make the final selection.

For races with Republican or Democratic competition — more candidates than available nomination slots — a public “casting of lots” process will be held on Wednesday, March 19, to determine the order candidates will appear on the ballot.

The election bureau places numbered balls in a container to set the ballot positions. Election bureau staff will draw for candidates if they don’t appear or designate a person to draw on their behalf. The session starts at 10 a.m. in Room 301 at the county’s Penn Place Building, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre.

Candidates interested in learning if they have primary competition can view the unofficial candidates list on the election page at luzernecounty.org.

Ballot questions

All Hazleton and Nanticoke voters — not only Republicans and Democrats — will have an opportunity to vote on a ballot question in the primary.

Hazleton voters will decide if they want to convene a seven-member Government Study Commission to examine the city’s existing structure and, if warranted, draft and recommend a home rule charter. Twelve citizens are running for the seven study commission seats, and the seven with top votes will be seated if voters choose to activate the commission. The candidates, according to the county’s list are Phil Bonafair, Tommy Bruno, Vianney Castro, Jeff Cusat, David Dominguez, Orisa Dotel, Rossanna Gabriel, Allison Keegan, John Nilles, Isaura Pine, Joe Yannuzzi, and Joseph C. Zeller III.

In Nanticoke, the referendum asks voters if the city’s home rule charter should be amended to eliminate a consecutive, three-term limit for city council members.