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Luzerne County&#8217;s new electronic poll book supplier paid for county election director Marisa Crispell to travel to and stay at hotels in Las Vegas and Nebraska for its corporate advisory board meetings.But Crispell said she had cleared the trips with a county solicitor and stepped down from the company board before the county sought proposals for the poll books.The county purchased the 220 electronic poll books this year from Election Systems &amp; Software (ES&amp;S) for $324,802 in an attempt to speed up and improve the processing of voters as they enter polling places. Instead of paper books, voters now sign in with a stylus on a tablet equipped to allow instant searches of a database if voters&#8217; names don&#8217;t appear on a list.According to Crispell:ES&amp;S asked her to participate in its advisory board in 2017 with other election representatives across the country. The county uses the company&#8217;s voting machines &#8212; a purchase made before Crispell was election director.The advisory role involved attendance at periodic sessions throughout the country to provide feedback on the company&#8217;s product ideas and how it can improve customer service.The company covered travel, lodging for two nights and meals. She said the first and third days of the trips were primarily spent traveling to and from the destination, and much of the second day focused on advisory board discussions. She said she went with the group to see an acrobatics show at the company&#8217;s expense in Las Vegas, where the board was lodged at the Cosmopolitan Hotel.&#8220;Most of my time on both trips was spent in an airport. I literally had two hours of leisure time,&#8221; she said.Crispell said she checked with county assistant solicitor Michael Butera before she agreed to accept the role and attend the meetings. There was no compensation outside the trips, she said.&#8216;Avoids the appearance&#8217;Butera said Wednesday he concluded there was no conflict, stressing that no selection of electronic poll books was pending at that time.&#8220;In fact, I thought it was an honor that she was asked to serve on the advisory panel with the head of the New York City election office and some other heavy hitters throughout the nation,&#8221; Butera said.Crispell said she also informed both the county administration and county election board of the plans, and no issues or concerns were raised.When county officials decided to pursue electronic poll books, Crispell said she spoke to Butera again, and they jointly agreed she should step down from the advisory board.&#8220;It avoids the appearance of an impropriety,&#8221; Butera said.Crispell said she stopped being an advisory board member in fall 2017, and the county sought proposals from companies interested in supplying the poll books in January 2018.Five companies submitted proposals.An advisory committee reviewed them and recommended the ES&amp;S books. In addition to Crispell, the committee included election board members, a poll worker and the county&#8217;s purchasing and GIS directors, she said.Crispell said she scheduled a demonstration of the different options and prepared a detailed summary breaking down the specifics of each proposal to help the committee with its decision.&#8220;I signed the recommendation, but it states that it was a committee recommendation,&#8221; she said.Council ultimately approved the purchase.&#8216;Not hiding anything&#8217;Crispell said she supported the ES&amp;S proposal, in part, because some of the other companies did not specify all equipment included in their package or had &#8220;bells and whistles&#8221; that were appealing but could not be used because the extras were not certified for use in Pennsylvania.The ES&amp;S books also were the only ones with 20 hours of extended battery life, which addressed Crispell&#8217;s goal that polling place workers would not have to worry about plugging them in.However, 15 of the 220 tablets had drained batteries in the Nov. 6 election. ES&amp;S is investigating those devices and will fix the issue or provide replacement books, said Crispell.County Manager C. David Pedri said Wednesday the administration will perform an internal review of the matter. He said he confirmed Crispell had reviewed the advisory board participation with the election board solicitor but declined further comment, citing personnel confidentiality.Council Chairman Tim McGinley believes Crispell&#8217;s board role should have been publicly disclosed before council voted, even if the administration concluded there was no problem or conflict.&#8220;Decisions should always be thought out as to how people will perceive them,&#8221; he said.Media reports of other election officials&#8217; involvement in the advisory board also has raised the issue of whether the cost of the trips should be logged on financial disclosure reports.Crispell said she was informed such disclosure was not required because the trips were for a service and not considered a gift or income. She said she would amend her disclosure report if the administration deems it necessary.She said she did believe she needed to publicly state her prior advisory role when the poll book purchase was discussed, stressing both the administration and election board were aware of her trips.&#8220;I am not hiding anything,&#8221; Crispell said.Crispell said she gleaned useful information at the sessions on how elections are conducted in other states and noted vendor-sponsored events and entertainment are common at some conferences for government officials.The trips would not sway her to recommend a purchase that she did not believe was in the county&#8217;s best interest, she insisted.&#8220;I always give this county so much of my time and effort,&#8221; she said, fighting tears.<style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_Crispell.jpeg-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crispell </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_Crispell.jpeg-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Crispell </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jennifer Learn-Andesjandes@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</shirttailMeta></div>

County election director ‘not hiding anything’ about trips