The Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office is investigating alleged paper ballot tampering at a West Scranton voting precinct during the election Tuesday.
District Attorney Brian Gallagher said a judge of elections interested in getting elected to the job wrote her name on ballots under the section for the judge office and handed them to voters.
The circle next to her written name was not filled in, Gallagher said.
Writing the name on the ballot is "certainly inappropriate, and now we have a criminal investigation into that matter,” the district attorney said. “Clearly a violation. And hopefully we'll get to the bottom of (that) very quickly and swiftly.”
Gallagher said the investigation will determine how many ballots were filled out that way.
“I don’t know that yet,” he said.
A Facebook post purporting to show a ballot with the judge’s name raised the issue Tuesday evening, he confirmed.
“IS THIS LEGAL?” the poster wrote. “This is how my ballet was handed to me. When I told the person that handed it to me and told her I didn't write that name ... in judge of election, she told me she was (the judge of elections and) she wrote it because she's done the job for years but this year she didn't register in time so she wrote herself in on the ballets (sic).”
Efforts to reach the Facebook poster were unsuccessful.
County elections director Beth Hopkins referred questions to Gallagher’s office.
The county Bureau of Elections issued a statement Wednesday afternoon about “potential ballot tampering” and said the bureau referred the matter to the district attorney.
“Because of the nature of the allegation and the ongoing investigation by the District Attorney, the Elections Bureau cannot make any further comment,” the statement said. “All further inquiries should be directed to the District Attorney’s office.”
Judge of elections have "the ultimate responsibility for the conduct of a polling place and the personnel working there," the Philadelphia good government group, The Committee of Seventy, says on its website. "They must take an oath to admit only those voters who are properly registered and entitled to vote, to prevent fraud, deceit or abuse, and to make sure that all votes at the end of the day are accurately tabulated. The Judge is also responsible for opening and closing the polls, and for all the paperwork required on Election Day."
