Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Paper ballots get mixed reviews
Voters throughout Luzerne County used paper ballots to cast their votes in Tuesday’s primary in an effort to avoid another election debacle. The reviews were mixed. Rob Jacobs, who voted Tuesday morning at the Kingston Recreation Center, said he thought using paper ballots was a “little backward.”
“I think the machines we had years ago were great and I think they were very userfriendly. I think people got used to using them,” Jacobs said. “Now I feel like we’re reteaching again. When you’re coming out to vote, I feel it should be an easy process. I don’t feel it should be a relearning process every single time you come to vote and for the last several years, it’s been like that.”
Jacobs said he also felt there was no privacy inside the polling site. After he filled out his paper ballot, he said he carried it and walked by people with his ballot open.
He chose to put in his ballot facing down but he said some voters might think they need to cast it facing up for their votes to count.
“People could see who you’re voting for,” he said. “I think there should be more of a degree of privacy for when you’re voting and they should make sure the voter is educated on filling in the round circle, especially for write-in votes.”
Chip Mack, one of three judges of elections at the Kingston Recreation Center, told voters how to cast the paper ballots and he said there were no problems as of Tuesday morning.
“It’s like a standardized test,” Mack said. “You see who’s running and you fill in the circles.”
Turnout at the Kingston Recreation Center was light as of Tuesday morning. Only about 25 voters of more than 1,060 in three wards in Kingston cast ballots as of about 10 a.m.
Turnout also was light in Forty Fort and paper ballots got some positive reviews there.
Forty Fort Mayor Brian Thomas, who visited the Forty Fort Borough Building after casting his vote Tuesday morning at Forty Fort Presbyterian Church on Wyoming Avenue, said he thought using paper ballots was “very simple and straightforward.”
“It was explained to me when I got in,” Thomas said. “I sat down, did it, put it in the machine and I was in and out in no time.”
Avoca resident Stanley Kania, 65, however, called the paper ballots a “bad joke.”
Kania said he tried to vote at the West Side Club on McAlpine Street in Avoca but
he was asked to write in some candidates with a big marker and he thought the box was too small. He didn’t bring his glasses and gave up.
“I don’t know who thought paper ballots were a good idea,” Kania said.
While turnout was light at some polling sites, Wilkes-Barre Twp. officials said it was steady as of Tuesday afternoon.
About 95 voters cast paper ballots in Ward 1 in Wilkes-Barre Twp. Fire Hall as of about 2 p.m., said Catherine Zawatsky, judge of elections for Ward 1.
“Our turnout has been pretty good for a primary election,” Zawatsky said. “It’s been above average.”
Wilkes-Barre Twp. Mayor Carl Kuren, who was seeking the nomination for mayor for a record seventh term, greeted voters as they came to the fire hall.
Kuren ran on the Republican ticket but sought Democratic write-in votes. While he heard some complaints about the paper ballots, he said he likes them.
“I thought it was great,” Kuren said. “It’s way easier than before. I’d rather do that than go on the computer.”
Zawatsky found the paper ballots were confusing for some voters who were used to voting electronically, but she said older people had “less of a problem.”
Wilkes-Barre Twp. voter Maryann Sarnoski, 75, said she didn’t like that she had to write in some names of candidates who cross-filed on the paper ballots but she liked them overall.
“I thought it was more fair,” Sarnoski said. “I felt you could take more time. It was less rushed I thought.”
After some Luzerne County polling places ran out of ballot paper and other problems occurred in the November election last year, Sarnoski said she still has faith in the election process.
“I think whatever happened, it was accidental,” Sarnoski said. “The people who work there change so often that you don’t have anyone who is able to run everything smoothly because people and go. I think that’s a big factor.”
After voting in Forty Fort with no problems, Thomas said he also continues to have faith in the election process.
“They did the best job they could,” he said. “I’m not a believer that there’s a whole conspiracy. I think that was just an error, a bad one and it shouldn’t happen, but I don’t think there was intent.”
Mack, however, said he believes it’s going to take time to build up voters’ faith in the election process.
“I think Luzerne County is going to be under the microscope,” he said.
Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2115, @CVAllabaugh