Luzerne County Election Results Expected to be Certified Wednesday, No Evidence of Voter Fraud

Luzerne County officials are expected to certify the county’s election results during a Board of Elections and Voter Registration meeting on Wednesday. On Monday, officials deadlocked over whether to report the official vote tallies to the state of Pennsylvania, which effectively prevented the official certification of their results. 

Two of the Democratic members of the Board voted to certify the results on Monday, while both Republicans voted not to and Democrat Daniel Schramm abstained, according to the Associated Press. 

On Election Day, paper shortages caused delays for the county, something that the local district attorney is currently investigating. A judge extended voting in the county until 10 p.m. on that day due to the supply shortages. 

Schramm told the AP in a phone interview that after Monday’s meeting, he received assurances that few, if any, voters were unable to cast their ballots and that all provisional ballots had been counted. He also said that he plans to vote to certify the county’s election results during Wednesday’s meeting. 

“I wanted to research to see exactly how many people were just not allowed to vote,” Schramm said. “I couldn’t find any.” 

He also told the AP that election officials contacted 125 judges of elections from the county’s 187 precincts “and they reported nobody being turned away.”

Monday was the deadline for counties to certify general election results to the state, and in a statement, the Pennsylvania Department of State said that it was contacting Luzerne officials “to inquire about the board’s decision and their intended next steps.”

An attorney for the county told board members at the meeting that it was possible the state or candidates could “file actions” after the county failed to certify the election. These actions will most likely not come to fruition, however, if the Board certifies the election as expected on Wednesday. 

In recent years, Luzerne County has leaned Republican. Democratic Governor-elect Josh Shapiro narrowly won Luzerne, however, while Democratic US Senator-elect John Fetterman lost the county by about 10,000 votes.