Judge Orders Pennsylvania County Polling Sites to Stay Open Late Due to Paper Shortages

People vote in Philadelphia, Pa., on Nov. 8, 2022. Mark Makela/Getty Images

A judge in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County ordered all polling sites to remain open for two additional hours after paper shortages cropped up during the midterm elections.

Court of Common Pleas Judge Lesa Gelb entered the order after hearing from county officials, who lodged a petition on Nov. 8 for extended hours.

“Voters in Luzerne County through no fault of their own, were disenfranchised and denied the fundamental right to vote,” Gelb said in her order, which was made “in an effort to protect and maintain the integrity of the 2022 General Election and to protect the voters of this County.”

The sites, originally slated to remain open until 8 p.m., were ordered to remain open until 10 p.m.

Gelb ordered the county and the court clerk to notify the appropriate election officials.

Some 35 precincts were affected by the shortages, Beth Gilbert McBride, the county’s acting elections director, told the judge during the hearing, the Standard-Speaker reported. The backup plan in such situations is to turn to provisional ballots, but there were also shortages of those ballots, according to McBride.

The county has 186 precincts.

McBride said that new paper wasn’t scheduled to arrive until 4:30 p.m.

Geld said she viewed the situation as “a major problem that is disenfranchising the voters of Luzerne County,” the Speaker reported.

The Democratic Party of Luzerne County supported extending precinct hours while the Republican Party of Luzerne County didn’t take a position on the petition.

Republicans requested any votes cast during the new hours be provisional, which would let officials know which voters voted during the two-hour time period, but the judge didn’t immediately rule on that request.

County officials said they’re investigating the matter.

Acting Deputy Director of Elections Emily Cook told WNEP-TV there were multiple factors, including high voter turnout. McBride told another outlet that “each machine that was deployed to the polling locations should have been pre-loaded with the necessary amount of paper that is required throughout the day” and “that did not happen.”

Voters were encouraged to go vote.

The county’s Bureau of Elections didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Polls in Luzerne County opened at 7 a.m.

The county has a population of about 326,000. It’s in the northern portion of the state, just below Scranton, and includes the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton.