Federal lawsuit targets Luzerne County election 'chaos'
Mar. 29—WILKES-BARRE — In a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of two Luzerne County residents, attorneys Walter S. Zimolong III and James J. Fitzpatrick III said "the chaos on Election Day was entirely preventable and predictable."
The suit was filed by the firm Zimolong Law, Wayne, Pa., on behalf of William French and Melynda Anne Reese, and it alleges the paper shortage prevented them from voting and violated their constitutional rights.
The paper shortage is separately under investigation by the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office.
Luzerne County, the county Election Bureau and the Board of Elections are all named in the lawsuit.
County Acting Manager Brian Swetz could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday about the litigation. Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene said he cannot comment on pending litigation.
According to the suit, French attempted to vote at the Freeland Ambulance Association, but was turned away because poll workers didn't have ballots. French returned later and was again turned away for lack of ballots. The suit says French's leg is "destroyed" and that he requires a cane to walk, so he was unable to return a third time.
The complaint states that Reese was turned away from her polling place in Shickshinny because of the ballot shortage. The suit states she returned twice more during the afternoon and evening, but the line to vote was long and her husband, who had recently suffered a stroke, was unable to wait the required time.
According to the suit:
"Defendants caused plaintiffs' right to vote to be violated because they failed to perform their most basic and obvious duties under the Pennsylvania Election Code, including their duties to properly equip and supply polling places, implement effective back-up procedures, and to train election workers."
The suit states that under the Pennsylvania Election Code, "defendants had an affirmative duty to adequately supply polling places with paper ballots and were required to supply each polling place with a number of paper ballots equal to the number of registered voters in the election district who could vote at the polling place. The Pennsylvania Election Code also required that defendants maintain at the Board of Election offices a sufficient number "backup" paper ballots for polling places to use.
"Defendants failed to fulfill these well-established and obvious duties."
The suit goes on to state that the Pennsylvania Election Code also "required defendants to instruct and train election workers so that the election could be conducted honestly, efficiently, and uniformly. But defendants maintain no formal training for their election employees who administer elections. Indeed, the Board hired the acting director of elections, who had no training or experience administering elections, just three months before Election Day in 2022."
The suit states that: "while preparing for and during the 2022 General Election, the defendants failed to supply a significant number of polling places with the required amount of ballot paper and failed to properly train election workers, including their acting director on how to properly administer an election under federal, state, and local law. Upon information and belief, at least 40 polling places in Luzerne County did not have the amount of ballot paper required under the Pennsylvania Election Code."
"Without ballot paper," the suit states, "citizens could not vote."
"When polling places ran out of paper, election officials and workers were instructed to tell voters they could not vote and to come back later. Those voters would return later only to be denied the right to vote again because the polling places still had no paper ballots."
