May 21, 2021- 7:52 p.m.
A media investigation found unsecured voting machines at a mall in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, prompting calls for answers by Republicans and local officials following local elections this week.
Myanmar military-appointed electoral body to dissolve Suu Kyi party, sources say
A media investigation found unsecured voting machines at a mall in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, prompting calls for answers by Republicans and local officials following local elections this week.
“I don’t think they should be in the middle of the mall area. I told them where the room is over there to keep them secure. But we watch them,” mall manager Laura Gruene told the outlet, adding that the machines had been left out since Tuesday, when votes were cast there in Hazleton’s 5th Ward.
PENNSYLVANIA COUNTY FAULTS ‘CODING ERROR’ AFTER VOTING MACHINES DIDN’T SHOW REPUBLICAN BALLOTS
Bob Morgan, the director of elections for Luzerne County, said he felt the voting machines should not have been in an area so easily accessible to the public but noted there were 900 machines around the county that can take several days to retrieve, the report said.
“Anything that could be tampered with such as memory cards were removed. There are no ballots inside. These basically are empty shells. We will contact our mover to get them picked up,” Morgan added.
Local Republicans in the northeastern Pennsylvania county expressed outrage over the mall mishap, as well as a controversy over incorrect labeling on electronic ballots for local elections in the county on Tuesday.
Luzerne County voters, regardless of their party affiliation, saw only a ballot labeled for the Democratic primary on the first screen, leading to confusion. The election authority granted GOP voters the ability to file a provisional or emergency ballot if they couldn’t make it back to the polls by 8 p.m.
Morgan said the error was not the fault of the local government, but rather the blame lied with Dominion Voting Systems, a company that faced a slew of dubious election fraud claims in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and filed multiple defamation lawsuits in the intervening months. Dominion issued a statement to the outlet in which it claimed a “ballot screen error” was present.
“Luzerne County’s election director has confirmed that there is a ballot screen error that is confined to the header on the viewing screen of the machine, and that all ballots are printing correctly with the Republican header and the Republican primary election races,” the company wrote. “As the county has reassured the voting public, all ballots will be correctly counted. We regret any confusion this has caused.”
Still, Luzerne County GOP Chairman Justin Behrens said the recent incidents have shaken the faith of Republican voters in the election process.
