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Luzerne County Council&rsquo;s Election Inquiry Committee discussed its first batch of preliminary findings and recommendations Thursday, with more to come.
				Committee Vice Chairman Harry Haas said the county must set up a clear process for voters to submit complaints and receive a &ldquo;reasonably prompt&rdquo; answer. The other council committee members agreed: Sheila Saidman, Stephen J. Urban and Linda McClosky Houck, who serves as committee chairwoman.
				Haas also suggested encouraging state legislators to eliminate the option to vote by mail with no reason or excuse required. Asking the state to allow voters to decide if they want to permit mail ballots is another option, he said.
				He argued voters should be required to vote in person unless they are out of the area, ill or have other justification for absentee voting. A Republican, Haas also maintained mail ballot processing is burdening the county election office and delaying the tallying of election results.
				The no-excuse ballot option took effect last year and was approved through bi-partisan state legislation in 2019. Legislators have not agreed to the state administration&rsquo;s push allowing counties to start pre-canvassing the ballots before Election Day to speed up processing on Election Day.
				McClosky Houck told Haas they are &ldquo;going to agree to disagree on this one.&rdquo; She said she and her family voted by mail last year mainly due to coronavirus concerns, and the option has been used widely in many other states across the country for a long time.
				A Democrat, McClosky Houck said she does not believe state decisions on mail ballots fall within the scope of the committee. She said Haas may explore the issue on the council legislative committee he chairs.
				Saidman, a Democrat, said something must be done to help voters, candidates and election workers obtain answers to their questions in the days leading up to elections and Election Day morning.
				She said she was unable to reach someone when she contacted the office about two weeks before the election to see if her mail ballot had been sent. The county administration has said additional phone lines are set up during peak periods.
				In another recommendation, McClosky Houck said all basic election procedures should be compiled in a manual to capture institutional knowledge lost in staff turnover. Residents have sometimes complained that they received conflicting responses about procedures from different staff, she said.
				The committee agreed to continue discussing additional recommendations on Jan. 21 and 28, with a goal of presenting a report to the full 11-member council at its Feb. 9 meeting.
				Council formed the committee largely due to the September discovery that a temporary seasonal worker had discarded nine overseas military ballots. Federal investigators found no issues beyond the nine that had been discarded during the three-day period the temporary worker was employed, and the matter remains under federal investigation, officials said. The county was ultimately able to count all nine votes.
				Urban, a Republican, asked if the federal investigation is still ongoing.
				Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo said she has not received any notification it was closed.
				Dawn L. Clark, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney&rsquo;s Office in Harrisburg, told a Times Leader reporter earlier this week she was unable to respond yet on questions about the status of the investigation and whether an announcement will be made if the investigation is closed without charges filed.
				An article circulated in recent days about investigators communicating with the county, but that article had been written last fall. Clark confirmed there have been no recent announcements from her office about the investigation.
				Crocamo said she will reach out to investigators to see if they will provide additional information. Urban said he would appreciate an update on whether the case is still open or not.

Luzerne County Election Inquiry Committee starts drafting recommendations