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The apparent confusion Tuesday outside the Luzerne County Election Bureau office at Penn Place rightly raised some eyebrows, and it merits closer review. If nothing else, we must learn from such events.
				But it&rsquo;s hard to see it denying anyone a chance to vote.
				For starters, obviously, there is still the chance to vote in person on election day (Nov. 3, and if you haven&rsquo;t already voted and are eligible, exercise your right). And if you are in line on time Tuesday, by law you can&rsquo;t be turned away. That was probably one reason for the confusion. The option to vote early in person was a matter of local rule. The option to vote on election day is a matter of black letter law.
				For those not allowed into the building to vote in person Tuesday, county Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnick said they were provided a mail-in ballot application, and a chance to fill them out and have them collected that same afternoon, thus meeting a 5 p.m. deadline for requesting mail ballots.
				To those who got the applications but fear trusting their ballot to the U.S. Postal Service, the county has a ballot box in the lobby of Penn Place, removing any risk from using USPS.
				So, frankly, no one Tuesday was denied the right to vote. They were, however, denied the right to vote that day. And that&rsquo;s a legitimate complaint.
				There are a lot of issues to unpack here, obviously. The biggest may be the restrictions on people allowed into the building at a given time, substantially increasing the amount of time it would have taken to serve all those still in line at 3:30 p.m. There&rsquo;s the question of staffing the office after hours, and paying for that staffing (and for the necessary security) and even for authorizing those hours and that pay.
				And there&rsquo;s the broader question of just how well the county planned before offering this in-person voting option. The system seemed a bit archaic, with people submitting a request for a mail-in ballot, appropriate checks and a chance to fill out the ballot right there. All of which, frankly, sounds sensible considering the high concerns about protecting the integrity of the process in such an unorthodox year. And lest we forget, the county didn&rsquo;t exactly get a limitless amount of time to devise and execute the in-person early voting system. Here&rsquo;s hoping the idea will evolve and be done better next time, but the county deserves credit for handling everything as well as it did, considering pandemic and time constraints.
				But there&rsquo;s one other factor that didn&rsquo;t seem to get much attention in all the hub-bub following Tuesday&rsquo;s incident: Voters are responsible for planning, too. And when things are as complex and concerns are as high as they are this year, your individual decisions matter, a lot.
				Make a plan. Be prepared for long lines. Be patient. Be determined. Be sure you know where your correct polling place is, what the hours are (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.), how you will get there, and where you can park if you are driving. If you have a vote by mail ballot, send it today, or better yet, take it to the drop box. <a href="https://www.pa.gov/guides/voting-and-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit the pa.gov voting page</a>.
				Don&rsquo;t get angry, don&rsquo;t get flustered, don&rsquo;t get scared away.
				Just get it done.

Our View: Lesson to be learned from Tuesday’s confusion: Have a plan