After Three Hours of Complaints, NorCo Elections Comm'n Certifies Nov. 7 Municipal Election Results

50 voters present 30 minutes before meeting

There were over three hours of complaints yesterday from 42 people inside the courthouse cafeteria. They were not there to rail about the food but had another menu on their minds. It was the November 7 election menu. Voters were unhappy to see their choices in the Superior Court retention race switched. Unlike getting a hamburger when you order a cheeseburger, this is a bit more serious. So when the Northampton County's Election Commission met to review and certify the results, they were greeted by an overflow crowd of well over 100 people. Most urged the Elections Commission to refuse to certify. Some, mostly from Lower Saucon Tp, argued that a refusal to certify would disenfranchise the thousands of voters who already voted.  After everyone spoke, the Elections Commission certified the results in a 4-1 vote. 

Those who voted to certify were Chair Sharon Gavin-Levy, Daniel Lopresti, Margie DeRenzis and Vicki Evert. Scott Hough was the lone No vote.

Commissioner comments 

Noting that his term expires at the end of this year, Hough said he doubts he'll be reappointed. He was disturbed that the Lamont McClure administration ignored an unanimous request from the elections commission to establish a second drop box in the northern tier of the county (Region 4) to make voting more convenient to people to vote in that largely rural (and Republican) part of the county. He added that his request for a "special meeting" was rejected. Hough finally condemned the communication between the elections office and poll workers on election day. "This was really bad," he observed. "I think we all know that."  

Before the vote, elections commission solicitor Richard Santee advised the board they had no choice.  He stated that, unless there is an existing challenge or an outstanding petition for a recount, state law (25 P.S. Section 3154) mandates that they certify.  

Prior to the vote, Commissioner DeRenzis noted that the issue only affected the retention races for Superior Court and no others. Through questioning of Registrar Chris Commini, she established that the Superior Court retention race was statewide, and how Northampton County voted had no consequential impact. Of the remaining races, she said "[w]e have no reason to believe that these votes were not calculated correctly."

Comm'r Lopresti advocates contingency planning

Commissioner Lopresti, himself a computer scientist, established that every machine is tested for a period of three days prior to an election. But he suggested that a random sampling of a number of machines with more rigorous testing to catch any programming error or machine defect. He also recommended that "contingency planning is done" in the event machines have to be abandoned. 

Chair Gavin-Levy, who thankfully called for a 10-minute break after three hours of public comment, suggested that "[w]e need to do a better job of training." 

ES&S apologizes ... again

Adam Carbullido is an executive at ES&S, which supplied the Express Vote XL voting machine used in Northampton County. He is also becoming something of an apology expert and might just have a career at Hallmark if ES&S goes tets up. 

Carbullido got his first job at “I am sorry for the pain I caused you, I feel so bad.” during the 2019 election, when many of the machines sent to the county were never properly aligned at the factory. That error was somehow missed during election pretesting (called logic and accuracy testing) that is supposed to be run on each of the county's 350-plus voting machines. 

He's apologizing again. He apologized to un unhappy County Council last week and did it again yesterday after hearing from a mostly angry and suspicious public. "It wasn't pleasant to hear, but it was important that I hear it."

He noted that one of the changes his company will make as a result of pretesting failure will be the preparation of a spreadsheet comparing a card ballot printout with an actual paper ballot. "I'm confident we can prevent this kind of mistake from happening again," he predicted. 

Registrar Report 

Voting Registrar Chris Commini first went through the turnout statistics, which also can be seen on the county election website. Turnout was 33.18%  The turnout at the precincts on election day was 21.5%. He added that there's been an increase in the number of Republicans who now choose to vote by mail. He said that Republicans cast 6,022 mail-in ballots, an increase form the 5,276 votes cast by Republicans in the 2021 Municipal General Election. 

In response to questions from elections commissioners, Commini stated that the Department of State was notified as soon as the problem was discovered. He said his office initially told election judges to suspend using the machine in favor of emergency ballots. Each precinct was supplied with 20 emergency ballots and 25 provisional ballots. All of the remaining instructions to elections officials were court ordered.  

He indicated that there was no way to print additional ballots in house, and acknowledged authorizing a Nazareth precinct to copy some ballots on its own. They were reconciled with other emergency ballots during the canvass.

He stated that having so few ballots was a problem he inherited. He indicated that more emergency ballots will be prepared in the event this problem occurs again, and that there will be runners on hand to provide them to precincts.

Commini also relieved an election judge who refused to comply with a court order authorizing a return to using the Express Vote Xl.

Anti-certification Arguments 

Thomas Little, a cardiologist from Williams Township, said "[w]e are asked to have faith in a system that has not earned our trust. ... Do not certify. Do not accept this travesty/" 

He was echoed by Maryann Morales, a Hanover 4 election judge. "How do we know if what you're telling us is the truth?" she asked. Then she admitted advising voters that there would be a special election in the superior court retention races.  She was joined by another Hanover 4 election worker, Robin Given. She argued "the thought of certifying this election is reprehensible."

Forks Tp voter Kathleen Gain stated her precinct was closed 1 1/2 hours. When she learned of the switch in the appellate court retention race, she asked "[h]ow do I know anything else matched?"

Nazareth carpenter Al Smith had a suggestion for replacing electronic voting machine with another kind of machine - a wooden box with a lock. He even offered to make them. 

Theresa Heese (sp?) suggested that Northampton County should start conducting elections like they do in Georgia. "Why does this always happen to Republicans?" she lamented.

NorCo GOP Chair Glenn Geissinger said he has 100 affidavits from voters who experienced problems. He argued against certifying results. He said that instead, the elections commission should investigate and never use the XL again,

Attorney Kevin Danyi, who represented the county GOP in court on election day, noted the irony. "In 2019, we were told to trust the card. In 2023, we were told to trust the machine."

State Rep. Milou MacKenzie called on Executive Lamont McClure to resign, stating the election is "his responsibility." "Maybe you voted Republican and a  'glitch' changed it to Democrat. She added "[i]t is un-American to have voters go to a poll and find the door is locked."

Pro-certification arguments

Most of the pro-certification arguments came from successful candidates in various races as well as Lower Saucon Tp residents who worked for candidates opposed to a landfill expansion. Some of them agreed with many of the complaints, but argued against "throwing out the baby with the bath water," as Lower Saucon voter Lynn Hill put it.

NorCo Dem party Chair Matt Munsey defended the elections office. "I believe the office did everything to the best of their ability." Few would dispute that contention.* He noted the staff size has increased since 2019 and is always professional and courteous. He also noted that certification is a "formality" that actually starts the clock ticking for those who wish to file legal challenges.    

John Boulette, a successful Wind Gap Borough Council candidate, conceded there were "serious problems," but they were with the pre-election testing, not the machine itself. 

Victoria Opthof Cordaro and Pricilla deLeon, who waged successful campaigns for Lower Saucon Township Council, argued that a refusal to certify would disenfranchise those who voted for them. Several of those voters added their voices to that argument. Two of them were Republicans who voted for Democrats because they oppose the landfill expansion

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*) In my experience, the elections office is the best-run row office in the county.  

UPDATED 11:15 am:  Northampton County's election results are now marked "official."

Judge race: Brian Panella won with 54.31% of the vote, defeating Nancy Aaroe by 6,103 votes.

County Controller: Tara Zrinski won with 54.11% of the vote, defeating John Cusick by 5,818 votes. 

County Council I: Ken Kraft (63.14%) over Bill Rowe by 4,304.

County Council III: Jeff Warren (56.28%) over Casey Foreman by 2,500.