THE BALLOT AMENDMENT

The current Luzerne County Council has proposed an Amendment to the charter to alter the functioning of the election board, which has arguably not been done lawfully and has potential to gravely harm our County elections system.

There are many issues with the ballot amendment - but below is the main issue.

Currently, there are five people appointed to the Board of Elections by the County Council. They must be two Republicans and two Democrats. The fifth is appointed by the previous four. This fifth person is the lever through which this quasi-judicial entity maintains independence from total control by the Luzerne County Council. With this ballot amendment, the Luzerne County Council would be able to appoint all five members of the elections board and have complete control over our elections, erasing the checks and balances set to protect our elections. We cannot allow our County Council to have this much control over our elections.

Although this amendment did not make this election’s ballot, if we do not vote in new members of the County Council, like Joanna, it will be brought up again and again.

Vote November 7th to protect Luzerne County’s democracy!

The most important part of a democracy is an educated electorate. We must protect our voters and their votes. We must also ensure that voting is accessible to all voters who want to participate in our great democracy. On Luzerne County Council, I will fight to increase access to the ballot box and restore voting rights. 

Luzerne County must do more to ensure that our elections run smoothly, efficiently and without question. Luzerne County Council must ensure that our Bureau of Elections is staffed with individuals who are knowledgeable about the way that elections run and run them smoothly. Additionally, the Council must stop the turnover in the Bureau and the subsequent loss of institutional knowledge.

Gov. Josh Shapiro recently ordered that all people will be automatically registered to vote when they interact with PennDot, namely, receive their licenses. This order is a major step forward in not only opening voting ability to as many people as possible, but is also a major step forward in protecting our elections by ensuring that so many voter registrations are automatically updated.

Once I am elected to Luzerne County Council, I will take special care to ensure that our elections are safe, efficient and accessible.