Lackawanna County Prison inmates eligible to vote will cast ballots Thursday

May 10—The Lackawanna County Prison and the county's election bureau resolved an issue that threatened to prevent inmates who are eligible to vote from casting ballots in next week's primary election.

In a unique arrangement, election bureau staff will take sealed envelopes with ballots to the prison at 9 a.m. Thursday. Inmates who requested a mail-in ballot will fill them out and place them in a locked drop box. The ballots will then be transported to the election bureau and counted along with other mail-in ballots starting at 7 a.m. May 16, said Beth Hopkins, director of the county's Department of Elections.

Prison and election bureau officials devised the plan to address an issue with the prison's mail system that prevented inmates from receiving a paper copy of a mail-in ballot. Under the system, all incoming mail, other than legal documents, is scanned by an outside company. The company then transmits a digital copy that inmates access through prison-supplied computer tablets.

Warden Tim Betti said he believes this is the first time voting will occur at the prison.

"I don't recall there ever being any concerns, complaints, etc. regarding anything to do with voting in an election," he said.

Officials had been working to resolve the issue since Beverly DeBarros, a prison volunteer who worked to register inmates to vote, raised the matter at the prison board's April 19 meeting.

Under Pennsylvania law, inmates serving a sentence for a felony conviction are not eligible to vote. Those convicted of misdemeanors and those charged with a felony, but who are awaiting adjudication of their cases, are eligible.

DeBarros and several other volunteers worked for weeks to register 57 inmates to vote. She was allowed to deliver applications for absentee ballots by hand to inmates, but the ballot itself must be mailed to the requester by the election bureau.

Inmates also faced an issue returning the ballot because, by law, only the voter who requested it can mail it or otherwise turn it in. All outgoing mail has to go through the prison's system, which means it would be handled by staff.

DeBarros said she believed 21 inmates would be qualified to vote on Thursday. Hopkins said 11 of those applicants were found not to be eligible, however, because they were not registered, the department did not receive a request for a mail-in ballot or they are serving a sentence for a felony conviction.

DeBarros said she believed all the persons identified as being eligible were registered, but acknowledged some inmates may have made errors on the registration form that caused them to be rejected.

"If an application was not right, I have no way of knowing that," DeBarros said. "I trust the election bureau."

While she wishes more inmates qualified, she's pleased with the number who expressed interest in voting.

"I'm thankful for everyone who can vote," she said. "The other ones, when they are out, they will know how to do it."

DeBarros also thanked the election bureau staff, who were very cooperative and helpful throughout the process, she said.

"This was all new to us," DeBarros said. "They were very good in explaining things to me."

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter.