Luzerne County set to vote on election board member removal

Luzerne County Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the removal of a county election board member, according to an updated agenda posting on the county website Monday.

The name of the board member is blank, but several county officials speaking confidentially said the action focuses on Republican board member Alyssa Fusaro.

The county administration had launched a review of the circumstances that led to Fusaro being kicked out of the election bureau on Nov. 9, the morning after the general election, according to multiple sources.

Several council members declined to comment on the matter Monday, citing personnel confidentiality.

Fusaro said Monday she cannot comment because she knows nothing.

“I still haven’t been informed of anything or any intention of removal from the board,” she said.

Speaking on Nov. 9, Fusaro had maintained she was ejected from the bureau because she discovered what she believed to be two temporary workers handling contents of judge of election bags. Fusaro had said she questioned why they were not sworn in and searched the garbage can in their area to see if anything had been discarded.

The five volunteer election board members oversee some aspects of elections, including the post-election adjudication of ballots.

Under the county’s home rule charter, council appoints two Democrats — currently Audrey Serniak and Danny Schramm — and two Republicans — now Fusaro and Jim Mangan. The four council-appointed members then select a fifth board member/chair of any affiliation, and Denise Williams, a Democrat, was unanimously selected to serve in April 2021, which predates Schramm, Fusaro and Mangan.

Council appointed Fusaro to the election board in March this year.

Tuesday’s council agenda originally said it would be voting on a matter stemming from a closed-door executive session.

The agenda attachment posted Monday contained a resolution stating the Pennsylvania Constitution provides that “appointed civil officers, such as board members, serve at the pleasure of the governing body that has appointed them.”

Based on council discussions in executive session, council desires to remove an election board member, the proposed resolution said. It contains a blank line for the name of the board member and said that person will be removed effective immediately.

If approved, the resolution also states the seat is now vacant and will be filled at a later date by council.

Council requires citizen applicants to publicly interview for vacant seats before they are added to an eligibility list that makes them eligible for appointment.

There’s precedent for election board removals.

In March 2021, council swiftly removed election board members Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt and Keith Gould after those two named Councilman Stephen J. Urban the new board chair against the solicitor’s repeated warning council members can’t serve on the board under the charter. Council also removed Urban at that time.

Urban had objected and cited case law arguing removals should have been pursued through a “quo warranto action” in which a county district attorney or state attorney general is requested to seek a court ruling on a removal in dispute. The law office had replied by stating council was on solid legal ground and arguing the case law Urban cited did not apply to the election board situation.

Tuesday’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with instructions for remote attendance posted under council’s online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.