U.S. House committee to probe Luzerne County ballot paper shortage

A U.S. House committee has singled out Luzerne County’s November 2022 general election paper shortage as a hearing topic for its “2022 Midterms Look Back Series.”

The Committee on House Administration will hold the hearing — called “Government Voter Suppression in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania” — in Washington, D.C. on March 28 to examine “how a severe shortage of available Election Day ballots provided by Luzerne County effectively closed polling locations and prevented thousands of Pennsylvanians from exercising their right to vote in the 2022 midterm election.”

County Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said she received an email invitation to participate in the hearing and is awaiting guidance from the county law office before deciding if she will attend.

However, she questions what facts will be presented because the county is awaiting the results of a county District Attorney’s Office investigation of the paper shortage that had been requested by the five-citizen election board.

‘Very disturbing’

“To say it was government voter suppression when there hasn’t been a report issued on the investigation, I would say it’s not fair to put that narrative out there,” Williams said.

Williams said the hearing title is a “very disturbing.”

“The whole November election is still under investigation, and nothing has been determined. Nobody has advised us on why the paper shortage happened or what happened,” Williams said.

Williams said she recently reached out to county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce requesting a status report, and he informed her March 15 the investigation remains ongoing and that he cannot state when the final report will be issued.

County Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene said Saturday evening he became aware of the committee hearing on Friday and was awaiting more information before issuing guidance.

Skene said he was only aware of two county government representatives invited to attend: Williams and county Deputy Election Director Beth McBride, who had served as acting director during the November general election.

County Acting Manager Brian Swetz could not immediately be reached for comment.

Meuser has questions

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, said he intends to sit in on the hearing and ask questions. He said he has several questions regarding what he termed “the debacle of the last election in Luzerne County.”

Meuser said the purpose of the purpose of the hearing is to review the 2022 mid-term election and focus on several areas across the country — including Luzerne County.’

‘This is not an R or D issue,” Meuser said. “A few areas were selected to review as pat of a fact-finding process. There was a scathing review done of Spotlight PA regarding how some counties were curing ballots, placement of ballot boxes and other procedures.”

Meuser said former Gov. Tom Wolf and the Secretary of State “allowed these issues to happen.” He said some 49 polling places in Luzerne County ran out of ballot paper early on election day, most before 10 a.m.

“There were a lot of red flags in several counties in the country,” Meuser said. “Luzerne County was one big red flag.”

Meuser said he has discussed the issue with Sanguedolce, asking, among other issues, how so many polling places ran out of paper.

“This can’t be just swept under the rug,” Meuser said. “Republicans and Democrats need election security and that is what this is all about.”

Meuser noted that nobody in Luzerne County was held accountable for what happened.

“Nobody was fired and nobody was even rebuked,” Meuser said. “This was a high level of incompetence.”

Efforts to reach U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, were not immediately successful on Saturday.

Sanguedolce has said his office is thoroughly investigating the Nov. 8 election paper problem, which caused widespread issues at polling places. The DA said every detective in his office is involved in some capacity, and they were speaking to hundreds of witnesses.

The hearing is at 10:30 a.m. in the Longworth House Office Building.