Once polls close on Election Day, volunteers and election officials across the country will still have a long night ahead of them.
“We usually … walk out of the building around 1:30 in the morning,” said Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo. “I’m hoping that the same thing will happen, that about 1:30 in the morning I’ll be getting in my car and driving home.”
But that won’t happen until Luzerne County’s volunteers finish counting ballots cast on Election Day and any mail-in or absentee ballots they’ve received. Those cannot be processed until polls open on election day, and Crocamo said they do not start counting them until polls close.
“We’re going to be here until every single ballot is uploaded,” she said. “The numbers are unofficial, but we’re going to stay until we have every single one in the system.”
Preparations going well
Crocamo said preparations have been going well in Luzerne County. In Pike County, Director of Elections Nadeen Manzoni said the same.
“We're just fielding some phone calls from our voters … we’re in good shape,” she said. “A lot of people are just making sure that their mail-in ballots have been received, wanting to know where they go to vote…typical questions.”
Lackawanna County Director of Elections Beth Hopkins is expecting significant voter turnout on Tuesday - judging by the amount of phone calls her office has been getting.
“It’s a lot of new voters … that are asking questions like what to expect at the polling place,” she said. “Your general questions that we always get every election cycle, but just a higher volume.”
High turnout can mean a longer wait for results. Crocamo said Luzerne County generally takes longer to post returns because of the county’s geographic size - it takes a while for ballots to make it from some of the southern parts of the county to the bureau of elections in Wilkes-Barre.
“That’s why … our tallies are a little bit later than our neighboring counties,” she said. “It takes about … half an hour, 40 minutes to get up (Interstate) 81.”
Luzerne County in focus
Luzerne County has had its fair share of other issues in past elections. In 2022, polling places throughout the county ran out of paper used to print ballots. The county kept polls open until 10 p.m. to allow voters who had been turned away more time to vote.
U.S. Attorney Gerard Karam announced last week that the Justice Department will be monitoring compliance with voting rights laws in Luzerne County on Election Day.
In an emailed statement Monday, Crocamo said anyone who encounters an issue while voting should report the issue to the election judge before leaving their polling place.
“We would like to emphasize that we will not be monitoring or responding to inquiries posted on social media platforms,” Crocamo wrote. “Our focus is on providing a secure and efficient voting environment.”
During an interview last week, Crocamo said tension has been high in Luzerne County.
“I had somebody spit on one of my workers,” she said. “I’m just hoping people understand…the lines are going to be long. There’s going to be delays when they open up the polls. There’s always an issue.”
Asking for patience
Polls open at 7 a.m. in Pennsylvania and close at 8 p.m. Crocamo urged voters to have patience both during election day and while votes are being counted.
“I just hope people are patient and really not abusive to our poll workers and our election workers,” she said. “These people are taking the time out of their day, and if they didn’t do it, we wouldn’t have a democracy.”
Walsh injunction withdrawn
In a separate development, Crocamo said an injunction filed against the county by state House candidate Jamie Walsh has been withdrawn.
It appeared the overall case was still alive, however.
Walsh sued Luzerne County and its elections board on Oct. 25, claiming officials have taken too long to process voter registration and mail-in ballot applications.
During a hearing last week in Luzerne County Court, attorney Mark E. Cedrone, representing the county, announced he was seeking to have the case moved to federal court.
The matter was then assigned to U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann in Williamsport.
Following a flurry of correspondence and a failure of the parties to reach an agreement, a hearing had been scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday.
Walsh's attorney, Milford-based Charles Kannebecker, wrote to the judge saying "it would be difficult for any court at all to issue an injunction at 4 p.m. that could be practically effective," and he withdrew the request for an injunction.
But that may not be the end of the matter.
"In his counsel’s communication to the Federal Court, Mr. Walsh stated that although he has withdrawn his request for injunction, which is the only specific relief he requested, he has not withdrawn the lawsuit per se," Cedrone wrote in a statement issued Monday afternoon.
"The withdrawal of the injunction request without withdrawing the underlying suit is somewhat confounding," Cedrone added.
"Regardless, at this point, the County and its Bureau of Elections intend to vigorously and successfully defend this frivolous action which falsely maligns the hard-working people in Bureau of Elections and has cost the county significant legal fees to date and for which the county will seek sanctions."
Walsh did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.
