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Their view: Higher education discriminates against conservatives

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Los Angeles Angels hire Joe Maddon as manager

<p>Luzerne County Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo issued a memo Wednesday backing up her argument that county council &#8212; not the county election board &#8212; must select a new paper-trail voting system.</p><p>County council candidate Walter Griffith raised the issue earlier this month, telling election board members he is confident the law grants them the power to select the system. The council-appointed citizen board members said they want clarification on the matter.</p><p>Before the January 2012 switch to a customized home rule government structure, county commissioners had selected the current electronic voting system in their dual capacity as election board members. State law refers to election boards having responsibility to purchase voting machines.</p><p>The current election board, which was changed to five citizens under home rule, has unanimously voted to recommend purchase of a system from Election Systems and Software, or ES&amp;S. County Manager C. David Pedri chose a system from Dominion Voting Systems. Hart InterCivic was the remaining machine vendor to submit a proposal.</p><p>According to the memo Crocamo prepared with assistant solicitor Michael Butera, who is assigned to election matters:</p><p>The charter is &#8220;clear and unequivocal&#8221; that the election board established under the new government structure shall exercise all powers and duties &#8220;conferred on it&#8221; by the charter, the administrative code or other county ordinances or resolutions.</p><p>The council-adopted administrative code says the board must provide &#8220;general supervision&#8221; over all county elections. The charter and code fail to grant the board power and authority to buy or procure voting machines or election equipment.</p><p>Instead, the manager and council have authority to enter into or approve contracts under the charter.</p><p>In an election board meeting Wednesday, Griffith said he believes Crocamo&#8217;s opinion is &#8220;seriously flawed&#8221; and said it should be challenged.</p><p>The state is mandating that counties select paper-trail machines by the end of this year and start using them by the April 2020 primary.</p><p><strong>Election director selection </strong></p><p>Crocamo&#8217;s new memo also addressed continuing questions about whether the manager or election board chooses the election director to replace Marisa Crispell, who recently resigned. Pedri has said he likely won&#8217;t select a director until after the Nov. 5 general election and may re-advertise the position to see if more are interested.</p><p>Echoing a statement previously made by Pedri, the new memo points to an administrative code section that says the manager appoints the election director &#8220;following consultation&#8221; with the election board.</p><p>Pedri has agreed to meet with the election board on the selection, the memo said, stressing that the power to appoint ultimately rests with the manager.</p><p>Crocamo said Wednesday her office is still reviewing another legal question over how council selects the voting system.</p><p>Councilwoman Linda McClosky Houck said council should be voting yes or no on the manager&#8217;s recommendation &#8212;not interviewing vendors and choosing one on its own. Council Chairman Tim McGinley said he believes council should perform its own screening of all options for larger purchases.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Crocamo </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_crocamo-1.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Crocamo </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County solicitor releases opinion on new voting system selection power