Security concerns led Luzerne County’s manager to remove ballot drop boxes for the November election, but one voting rights group is calling for them to be reinstated.
Other activists don't want to see the boxes used at all, and the two sides gathered outside the Luzerne County Courthouse on Tuesday to air their views.
Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo has said she exercised her authority over county property and personnel when she decided last week not to “deploy” the county’s four drop boxes for mail-in and absentee ballots.
Beth Gilbert, the county's former deputy election director, now serves as voting and elections manager with non-profit voting rights group In This Together NEPA. She says the decision to eliminate the drop box option should have come from the county’s board of elections.
The county had four drop box locations: Wright Manor in Mountain Top, Misericordia University in Dallas, Broad Street Business Exchange in Hazleton and the Penn Place county building in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Crocamo cites safety concerns
“There are safety concerns right now in Luzerne County … I cannot say that I can secure the drop boxes,” Crocamo said. “Other counties have more resources and can actually secure their drop boxes.”
Crocamo said she’s less worried about people dropping off more than one ballot, and more concerned by reports of people putting suspicious substances or other items in drop boxes nationwide, as well as lack of oversight at the drop box locations.
“It’s not an indictment against drop boxes, we’ve used them in the past. It’s just that right now, in Luzerne County, the political climate is really at the boiling point,” she said. “I can’t guarantee the safety of the individuals who have to work with the drop boxes. That was the basis of my decision.”
Gilbert: Board should have decided
Gilbert doesn't believe that move should have been made unilaterally by the manager.
“If the county were to decide not to use drop boxes, the board of elections would have to decide that on their own, not just the county manager,” she said.
Crocamo contends the county charter gives her authority over county property and personnel.
She said the drop boxes are county property, and the sheriff’s department officers in charge of collecting the ballots are county personnel.
Both sides meet at courthouse
In This Together is calling for Luzerne County to reinstate the drop boxes as soon as possible before the November election.
Gilbert is concerned about voters who have relied on the drop boxes since the county started using them in 2020.
“I do think that this is going to have a considerable impact on voters,” she said. “Especially being that Luzerne County has had drop boxes for four years now.”
Gilbert led the rally on the Luzerne County Courthouse steps on Tuesday evening. She was joined by three voters from Luzerne County, who spoke in favor of drop box voting, as well as state Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski and Jim Haddock, and state Sen. Marty Flynn.
A group of protestors gathered in front of the courthouse and often shouted their approval of Crocamo's decision over the group from In This Together.
The protest group interjected with statements about "illegals" using drop boxes to vote and calls to vote in person or drive to the election office to drop off a ballot.
Pashinski, speaking after the rally, questioned the legality of Crocamo's decision and said Luzerne County should reinstate its drop boxes until after the election so that the board of elections can examine the issue.
"All we're asking is let this go the way it's been because we're so close to the election," he said. "Then we're more than happy to sit down with everybody and talk about changing it for the next election, but don't change it now when people have already made arrangements."
The controversy comes at a time when the county's political landscape is shifting rapidly.
Statistics released Monday by the Pennsylvania Department of State show that Republicans took the lead in voter registrations for the first time since the 1970s.
Republicans have 87,415 registered voters in Luzerne County, an 83-person lead over the Democrats' 87,332.
Letters of approval and dissent
Before Tuesday's courthouse rally, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania sent Crocamo a letter urging her to reverse her decision.
They cited the county's home rule charter as their reasoning.
"Neither the Luzerne County county manager, nor the Luzerne County Council, has the authority to override a decision regarding election administration that the appointed Board of Elections has adopted," the letter states.
State Representative Alec Ryncavage, however, expressed his support in a letter on Tuesday.
"With so much at stake in the upcoming election, we cannot afford to leave any room for doubt regarding the integrity of our elections," Ryncavage, R-Plymouth, wrote.
Voters can bring ballots to bureau
Crocamo encouraged voters who would like to drop off their mail-in or absentee ballots to do so at the Election Bureau in Wilkes-Barre.
Mail-in ballots have not gone out to county residents yet. The last day to request one before the election is October 29.
