By Michael P. Buffer | [email protected] | The Citizens' Voice
Mail ballots issued to Luzerne County voters do not include inserts with the official explanation statement of the ballot question asking Nov. 4 general election voters to approve or reject a revised home-rule charter.
County Controller Walter Griffith is worried mail-ballot voters will be confused when voting without seeing the explanation of the ballot question and addressed his concerns with Gene Molino, the solicitor for the election board.
Mail ballots for the 2024 primary election included inserts with the explanation statement of the ballot question that asked county voters if they wanted to establish a government study commission. Voters approved that ballot question in April 2024, and the study commission drafted the revised home-rule charter.
According to Molino, state law does not require mail-ballot inserts with the explanation statement of ballot questions, and the Pennsylvania Department of State must approve a variance to allow mail-ballot inserts. The explanation statement of a ballot question is required to be in a legal notice published in a local newspaper, and three copies of the explanation must also be posted at each polling place, Molino said.
The election board made the decision to include mail-ballot inserts for the 2024 primary after lengthy discussions took place months before mail ballots were distributed, Molino said.
On Aug. 20, the election board approved the ballot question on the revised charter and the explanation statement. No one at the the Aug. 20 meeting or prior to that meeting asked the board to provide mail-ballot inserts with the explanation statement of the charter ballot question, Molino said.
The ballot question approved by the study commission and the election board says the following: "Shall the Home Rule Charter of the County of Luzerne be repealed and the form of government recommended in the report of the government study commission, dated July 28, 2025, be adopted as authorized by the Home Rule Charter and Optional Plans Law?"
The explanation statement approved the election board says, "A 'yes' vote means that you are voting to adopt the proposed Home Rule Charter for Luzerne County, which will change the existing form of government. A 'no' vote means you favor keeping the existing Home Rule Charter form of government."
The explanation statement does not include specifics that detail how the revised charter would change the county government. The revised charter would reduce the size of county council from 11 members to nine members and build off the charter approved in 2010. A council-appointed manager would continue to head the county's executive branch under the revised charter.
The 2010 charter eliminated a state-mandated form of government led by three county commissioners and included various row offices led by elected officials. The only elected officials under the 2010 charter are district attorney, controller and council members, and that would not change under the new charter.
Griffith posted a message on Facebook to provide more information on the revised charter proposal, and he detailed his opposition to revised charter.
"IT DOES NOT ELIMINATE THE HOME RULE FORM OF GOVERNMENT in LUZERNE COUNTY and revert back to the Commissioner Form we had prior to 2012," Griffith wrote. "IT SIMPLY WILL ELIMINATE the CURRENT HOME RULE CHARTER NOT THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT, WHICH HAS 11 Members of County Council and put in its place a NEW HOME RULE CHARTER which has 9 Members of County Council and places more power in the hands of 9 ELECTED COUNCIL MEMBERS."
Griffith, a Republican elected to a four-year term as controller in 2021, is running for re-election in the Nov. 4 election against Democrat Tim McGinley, a former county council member and a member of the study commission. McGinley abstained when the study commission voted 4-2 to approve the revised charter. McGinley opposed the reduction to nine council members.
In an email sent to Griffith on Monday, Molino included a January 2024 email sent to county and election officials that provided research on providing mail-ballot inserts with a ballot question explanation statement.
Molino also noted the election bureau also did not provide mail-ballot inserts on the Nov. 4 ballot question for Pittston voters, who will decide whether to change the treasurer/tax collector job from an elected position to an appointed department director.
The election bureau distributed roughly 25,000 mail ballots to voters last week. The last day for a voter to request a mail or absentee ballot is Oct. 28.
The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 20. As of Monday, 204,938 voters were registered in Luzerne County -- 84,080 Democrats, 91,020 Republicans, 24,162 with no affiliation and 5,676 with other parties.