Dallas City News

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Luzerne County voters and In This Together NEPA over the county manager’s decision to remove all four mail ballot drop boxes for the 2024 general election, according to a press release Tuesday.

“Drop boxes are a safe, secure, and easy way to ensure mail ballots are returned timely, and they are especially important for people with disabilities and those experiencing last-minute difficulties going to the polls on Election Day,” ACLU of Pennsylvania’s Legal Director Witold Walczak said in the release.

“The county manager had no legal authority to pull this end run around the board of elections’ decision to continue offering Luzerne County voters a safe and easy option to vote by mail, and we hope the court will quickly restore the four drop boxes,” Walczak added.

The Borland & Borland law firm is local cooperating counsel for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and will be presenting a motion for injunction to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, the release said.

Beth Gilbert, voting and elections manager at In This Together NEPA, said her organization is “committed to ensuring the rights of all voters are upheld.”

“We strongly believe that the decision to eliminate drop boxes is both harmful and unlawful, and we are asking the court to act swiftly to restore access to this vital voting option,” Gilbert said in the release.

The county plans to issue ballots within a week to mail ballot voters who requested them.

Crocamo said Tuesday she cannot comment because she “doesn’t litigate in public.”

She has said she has authority over the matter under the county’s home rule charter because she is required to oversee personnel and security of county-owned property.

Information about the filing is posted at aclupa.org.

Litigation specifics

The lawsuit asks the county Court of Common Pleas to issue an injunction and restore the drop boxes as soon as possible.

ACLU Attorneys Walczak and Marian K. Schneider filed the litigation in conjunction with pro bono representation from Sarah L. Borland and Joseph C. Borland, of local firm Borland and Borland.

In addition to In This Together NEPA, the plaintiffs are mail ballot voters Jenny L. Wilczak, Hannah Butterwick and Carole Shearer. All three women expressed support for drop boxes during a recent In This Together NEPA press conference outside the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

The nonprofit In This Together is an affiliate organization of Action Together NEPA, which has supported Democratic candidates for county offices. In This Together’s election-related functions strive to “assist all eligible voters with obstacles they may encounter to voting and having their ballots counted,” the court filing said.

The defendants are Crocamo, in her official capacity as county manager, and the county Election Board, which must be named an “indispensable party to this action.”

The emergency complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief says Crocamo unilaterally superseded and negated the election board’s official action to deploy four drop boxes.

“Because issuance of mail ballots is imminent, prompt injunctive relief is necessary to restore the board’s authority over the management of Luzerne County’s elections and to reinstate their decision to deploy four drop boxes for voters to deliver mail ballots during the upcoming election period,” it said.

According to the emergency complaint:

The state election code “confers on the board the authority and responsibility for running elections and election administration.”

During public meetings starting in May 2020, the board approved the deployment of all four drop boxes that have been in use for multiple elections.

Most recently, in February 2024, the board voted 3-2 to reject a motion to eliminate all drop boxes. The board’s two Republican members sought the elimination, while the three Democratic board members opposed it.

“Drop boxes provide voters a secure way to submit their ballot directly into the hands of the election bureau and allow voters to bypass the uncertainty that accompanies reliance on the U.S. Postal Service,” the filing said.

It said there have been no substantiated cases of abuse or fraud concerning the drop boxes.

Crocamo did not formally bring the matter of cancelling the drop boxes to the board, and the board has not taken any public action to change the deployment of four drop boxes.

It also noted Crocamo has not responded to the ACLU’s Sept. 24 letter asking her to retract her order to remove the drop boxes.

The filing asks the court to void Crocamo’s drop box elimination decision, declare that her decision violates the state Election Code and direct her to take all necessary steps to deploy the four drop boxes.

Removal arguments

In her original announcement, Crocamo had said she “must prioritize the safety and security of our community in the current political climate.”

The boxes were in the Wright Manor senior living facility in Mountain Top, Misericordia University’s Passan Hall in Dallas and two county-owned properties — the Broad Street Exchange in Hazleton and Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre.

She had said the Wright Manor box is in a vestibule with an outer door that remains open 24 hours a day and cited other concerns about security issues at the three other sites.

Mail ballot voters will have the option to bring their ballots directly to the election bureau on the second floor of the Penn Place Building on the corner of Market Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, she had said.

After attorneys representing the Democratic National Committee, Pennsylvania Democratic Party and other related entities sent a letter challenging her authority last week, Crocamo was more blunt in her reasoning, saying she discontinued the boxes primarily due to a fear they would be targeted, injuring people, property and the ballots inside.

“I’m worried about violent acts to voters using the drop boxes and to the potential damage to the ballots that are inside the boxes,” Crocamo had said.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis brief issued in early September warned that some social media users are promoting destruction of ballot drop boxes.

County Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams has said she still believes other solutions could be implemented to address the manager’s concerns, such as stationing personnel nearby funded through the county’s state Election Integrity Grant.