by Natalia Mittelstadt
A bipartisan election board in Luzerne County, Pa., found that the number of ballots returned to two drop boxes in the November 2022 election was roughly the amount collected, after reviewing video surveillance footage, despite an earlier review showing significant disparities.
The county board conducted a second review of the surveillance footage after an initial review found that significantly fewer ballots were dropped off than collected from the two drop boxes, the Times Leader reported Monday after the results were released ahead of the board meeting on Wednesday.
The initial review from December 2023 either fast-forwarded and missed voters or didn’t view the entire period of time between drop box collections, according to the board’s chairwoman.
The results of the second review showed that there were more voters and ballots than initially reported, but that there were more ballots returned than voters who dropped them off. The second review further revealed that the number of ballots dropped off were either in line with or close to the number of ballots collected.
In Pennsylvania, voters are required to return their own ballots. However, disabled voters can designate an agent by a form to have them drop off the ballot for them. A designated agent can only drop off one other voter’s ballot unless there are more voters in the same household.
“A number of the voters deposited more than one ballot, there is no way of telling whether or not they had the proper paperwork,” according to the review.
According to the board’s review of the video footage of the two drop box locations, the one at the Pittston Library had 213 voters drop off about 235-241 ballots, and the sheriff had collected 247 ballots from that drop box. There is a one-minute gap between two video files, which the review noted could account for the fewer number of ballots seen dropped off than collected.
At the Misericordia University drop box, where the sheriff collected 130 ballots, the review found 118 voters drop off around 128-132 ballots.
The review also found that no voters revisited the drop boxes and there appeared to be no fraud.
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News.
Photo “Mail in Ballots” by Cindy Shebley. CC BY 2.0.
