If we are proven wrong once the case plays out in court, we’ll happily admit it; but on first blush, a lawsuit against Luzerne County and the county Election Board seems at best premature and at worst a political stunt that could waste taxpayer dollars while wrongly impugning election integrity.
As reported, Jamie Walsh is the plaintiff in a civil complaint filed late Friday that contends the county is “failing and/or refusing” to process voter registration forms and mail ballot requests. It further argues the defendants are “affecting the right to vote and placed that right to vote in jeopardy because they failed to perform their basic duties under the Pennsylvania Election Code.” How? If mail ballots aren’t sent out in a “proper and timely manner,” voters will be unable to return them by the deadline.
That makes perfect sense, until you look at the facts offered by the election bureau and County Manager Romilda Crocamo. On Friday the bureau confirmed that all outstanding requests for new registrations and changes in party affiliation or addresses have been processed. If true, a big chunk of the complaint is moot.
As to whether or not mail ballots are being sent to voters in a timely fashion, Crocamo said that as of 4 p.m. Thursday there were 5,300 mail ballot requests to be processed, and the bureau said it plans to catch up on all of them this weekend.
In other words, by the time this lawsuit gets any sort of court hearing, the alleged “failures” will likely have all been addressed.
Well, maybe not all, and this is the part where the complaint seems premature: Under state law, voters have until Tuesday to request mail ballots. It seems hard to argue that mail ballots are not being provided to voters in a timely fashion when the deadline for requesting said ballots is still days away (and that the state allows late requests for certain emergencies).
The filing cites several examples of problems with county elections, apparently as a “past is prologue” argument:
• The 2020 discarding of nine overseas military ballots (all retrieved and properly tallied, with the workers responsible fired and federal investigators declining to file criminal charges).
• A paper shortage on election day in November 2022 that, while a genuine problem, was largely resolved in real time (in part by keeping polling places open longer).
• The misspelling of incumbent state Rep Alec Ryncavage’s name on this year’s mail ballots (voting equipment supplier Dominion Voting took responsibility and agreed to cover costs of issuing corrected ballots).
But with each of these cases, the county took firm steps to fix them at the time and to avoid them in the future. Perhaps more importantly, none of those issues had anything to do with voter registration or providing mail ballots to voters.
It’s important to note that Walsh is on the ballot for state representative in the 117th Legislative District and that, as a practical matter, nothing he alleges would likely change the outcome for him: He’s running unopposed.
We think County Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene hit the proverbial nail on the head when he summed up his response in an email to County Council that said, “I do not feel the claim is actionable based on the progress the bureau has made”
County Election Board member Rick Morelli, a Republican, was blunter, calling the suit an unnecessary waste of time and tax dollars. He also pointed out that Walsh has commended the election bureau’s work several times in recent meetings.
“How could you file a lawsuit against us when you’re consistently complimenting us on the work we’re doing? It’s just getting out of hand.”
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