The Luzerne County Board of Elections did not move forward Thursday with challenges to a petition for referendum on the county’s new non-discrimination ordinance.
Luzerne County Councilman Chris Belles had challenged the validity of more than 400 signatures on an initial petition to repeal the ordinance or put it up for a county-wide vote. The board agreed in a public hearing Thursday morning that the challenge is “moot,” since even if it was accepted, the petition would still meet the threshold to continue.
“At this stage in the referendum process, Mr. Belles’s objections are moot, as the Board of Elections and Registration lacks the ability to issue an order or determination that would stop petitioners' committee from continuing to secure signatures until the 60th day following the adoption of the County Council ordinance,” assistant solicitor Gene Molino said to conclude the hearing.
Belles had asked the board to throw out 475 signatures on the initial petition from former Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith and his petitioner committee. Under the county's home rule charter, that petition needed a minimum of 1,162 signatures — one percent of the county’s votes in the last gubernatorial election — to continue with the process.
Griffith turned in 1,899 signatures in late June, and the clerk of county council accepted all but 63 of them. Griffith challenged the removal of those signatures on Thursday, but the board also did not accept that challenge.
Belles also asked for extra time to review more than 300 signatures that were not included in the version of the petition that was initially available to the public. He came to Thursday’s hearing prepared to challenge an additional 90, but the board determined that still would not cause the petition to fall short of the threshold.
WHAT THE ORDINANCE DOES
The countywide non-discrimination ordinance extends discrimination protections to classes not included under statewide and federal law — including protections from discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, and physical or mental disability.
It was adopted by the county council in June with a vote of 7-4.
The hearing lasted more than an hour, with Belles sitting opposite Griffith and Attorney J. Chadwick Schnee, counsel for Griffith and the petitioner committee.
After the hearing, Belles said he was pleased with how it was run and with the outcome. The board stated during the hearing that the charter allows for challenges throughout the petition process.
“I wanted it on the record that we could challenge everything from day one to day 60,” he said.
The petitioner committee has until Aug. 8 to obtain 11,650 signatures — 10% of the county vote in the 2022 gubernatorial election. If that is met, county council will have the choice to either repeal the non-discrimination ordinance or put it on the ballot for a referendum.
'We've listened to both sides'
Griffith said the process allows county residents to have a voice.
“Our charter clearly puts that in there so the people of this county have an opportunity to speak about something that they don't like, and that's what we're doing,” he said. “We're trying to give them the opportunity to say we don't like this ordinance. We want to repeal it.”
Luzerne County has been under a home rule charter since 2012, but this is the first time a resident has used the petition for referendum process. Board of Elections chair Christine Boyle said the board went into Thursday’s hearing with that in mind.
“The board has done its job in a new situation … we are in a role that we didn’t necessarily anticipate,” she said. “We’ve listened to both sides of the argument and done everything we can do to come to a final position that will allow the parties to move forward.”
