Resident urges removal of ballot drop boxes; election director defends drop boxes and explains canvass process

During the public-comment portion of the Lackawanna County Board of Elections meeting, Roaring Brook Township resident Cara Francis urged the board to permanently remove ballot drop boxes and asked the board to place that motion on a future agenda and to provide cost information related to drop boxes and their surveillance.

Francis said taxpayers were angry about a 33% tax increase and questioned whether the county should spend money on drop boxes. "At a minimum if you're going to actually use the drop boxes again, put them in the one location that is downstairs," Francis said, adding she had filed right-to-know requests about drop-box costs and surveillance and had not received complete answers.

Director Elizabeth Hopkins responded during the meeting that she supports drop boxes as a means to expand access to voting and said she would not favor placing a motion to eliminate them. Hopkins explained the counting and canvass process: precinct judges and inspectors sign election tapes at their precincts, the county conducts an official canvas beginning the Friday after the election with three teams working in the elections office to review ballot images, and observers and party watchers may be present during the process. Hopkins described how write-in votes are tabulated by reviewing ballot images and, if requested, examining the paper ballots themselves.

Hopkins listed the county's current drop-box locations as the government center, the Musick Municipal Building, Dixon City Municipal Building, Clark Summit Municipal Building, Roaring Brook, and the Carbondale Senior Center — six locations in total. Francis asked for a breakdown of surveillance and drop-box costs; the director and board did not provide a dollar figure during the meeting and the cost amount remains not specified in the record.

Francis said she would place her own motion to remove drop boxes and see whether another board member would second it; the transcript records her statement but shows no motion from the board to remove drop boxes during this meeting. The director reiterated that mail-in ballots can be mailed and that voters may bring ballots directly to the board office.

The board did not vote on drop boxes at this meeting. Francis requested that the board place a motion on a future agenda and asked staff to produce responses to prior right-to-know requests about drop-box costs.