Part I: Everything you need to know about Navigating the 2020 … · 2020. 9. 19. · F1 Part I: Everything you need to know about Navigating the 2020 Election Sunday, September 20,

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Part I: Everything you need to know about Navigating the 2020 Election

Sunday, September 20, 2020EDITOR’S NOTEWelcome to Navigating 2020.We realize this year has been like no other.We also know we face an all-important election in just 44 days – an elec-

tion, much as the year, like no other. And we are intent to make sure you are ready to cast your ballot. This is the � rst of three special sections to help you get ready to do just that.

Our promise to you is that we will remain non-partisan in the pages of the special sections. Our only goal is to give you all the information you could need to vote – whether you plan on doing that in person or through the

mail.Any partisan content you see will be from the candidates and the political

parties themselves and clearly marked as such.In the matter of fairness, we o� ered each political party in Luzerne

County the same opportunity to advertise.So we hope you enjoy the work we have put into this section and the ones

to follow in the coming weeks.And we sincerely hope you take the time to exercise your civic duty come

Nov. 3 and vote.– Times Leader

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Sunday, September 20, 20202 NAVIGATING ELECTION 2020

File photoTeams of Luzerne County workers spent long days painstakingly opening envelopes containing mail-in ballots following the June 2 primary election.

Timing of election results up in the air

ELECTION NIGHT

By Jennifer [email protected]

An influx of mail-in ballots that took longer to process in the June 2 primary election ended the tradition of Election Night

candidate victory announcements.Luzerne County and many others

needed more than a week to finish opening and scanning the ballots and reach decisions on the ones flagged for missing signatures and issues.

It’s still unclear if legislators will reach a solution on changes to speed up the process for Nov. 3.

County Election Board Solicitor

Michael Butera recently said several legislative changes related to mail-in voting have been circulating at the state capital, with no final decisions.

That includes proposals allowing counties to start opening up mail-in ballots 21 or 3 days before the election — a process known as pre-canvassing — so they are ready to be loaded into tabulators and tallied on election night, Butera said.

“It could take as long as it did in the spring or be faster. We don’t know until the state decides what it is going to do,” said county Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik.

Another deadline that has changed

also will delay the final tally, officials say.

In the primary, completed ballots had to be physically returned to the county election bureau by 8 p.m. on Election Day, and postmarks did not count.

The state Supreme Court last week granted the Democratic Party’s request to order a three-day extension for the Nov. 3 general, which means mailed bal-lots received by 5 p.m. Nov. 6 must be counted if they were postmarked by the time polls closed on Election Day.

Because mail-in ballots take longer to process, county Election Board Vice Chairman Peter Ouellette said the mindset needs to change from election

day to “election week.”“We’ll take accuracy over speed every

single time,” Ouellette said.Approximately 40,300 county vot-

ers cast their ballots by mail on June 2 — an option that was encouraged in the coronavirus pandemic and available with no excuse or reason required for the first time due to state legislation that had passed last year.

County officials are projecting the number of mail-in voters will be in the 50,000 range for the upcoming general.

Teams of county workers had to spend days opening outer envelopes,

See RESULTS | 3

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3Sunday, September 20, 2020 NAVIGATING ELECTION 2020

shuffl ing the sealed secrecy envelopes inside and then open-ing those to access mail-in ballots that had to be unfolded and smoothed so they didn’t cause a jam when batches were fed into scanner/tabula-tors.

The envelopes couldn’t be opened until 7 a.m. on Elec-tion Day under state law.

Separate from state legislation out of her control, county Elec-tion Director Shelby Watchilla said she is trying to accelerate mail-in ballot process-ing by researching the possible addition of an automated envelope opener.

These devices can open 40,000 envelopes per hour and have been used successfully and safely in other counties, Watchilla said.

From page 2

ResultsMAIL-IN VOTING

File photoLuzerne County Election Board members review flagged issues, such as missing signatures, on mail-in ballots following the June 2 primary. Photographed, from left, are Audrey Serniak, Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt, Keith Gould and Peter Ouellette.

By Jennifer [email protected]

Unless state legis-lators change the date, voters inter-ested in casting

their ballots by mail have until Oct. 27 — a week before the Nov. 3 election — to request the option.

Luzerne County offi -cials are projecting the number of mail-in voters will be in the 50,000 range for the upcoming general.

Approximately 40,300 county voters cast their ballots by mail on June 2 — an option that was encouraged in the coro-navirus pandemic and available with no excuse

or reason required for the fi rst time due to state legislation that had passed last year.

Mail-in ballots for the general election are on track to be mailed by the end of the month to county voters who requested them, said county Election Director Shelby Watchilla.

The county admin-istration has decided to retain an outside company — Ohio-based Election IQ — to handle the preparation and mail-ing of ballots instead of performing that work in-house, said county Administrative Services Director David Parsnik.

This outsourcing will

free up election staff for other election prepara-tions, Parsnik said.

The county election offi ce will continue han-dling the processing of all returned ballots.

Mailing speci� csAttention to detail is

important to ensure a mail-in vote is counted, offi cials say.

Along with instruc-tions, mail-in voters receive a ballot, a plain white secrecy envelope with no identifying infor-mation on it and an outer envelope that contains the voter’s name and a label with a bar code that, when scanned, iden-tifi es that voter in the

state’s database.After fi lling out the

ballot, voters must place it in the white envelope, seal it and then put that envelope inside the one with the label/barcode to be returned to the county.

During processing, secrecy envelopes are shuffl ed as a way to pre-vent the linking of ballots to specifi c individuals.

The outer envelopes are scanned so the sys-tem records which voters have cast mail-in ballots.

For the upcoming elec-tion, the state is covering the cost of postage for mail-in ballots.

County Election Board Vice Chairman Peter

Ouellette provided some

procedural reminders for

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mail-in voters based on errors observed by the county Election Board following the June 2 pri-mary:

• Voters must sign the outer mailing envelope containing the bar code.

• Multiple ballots can-not be placed inside the same secrecy or mailing envelope. If this hap-pens, the county cannot count the ballots because there would be no way to determine which ballot is tied to the voter listed on the envelope with the bar code.

• When selecting can-didates, voters should fully shade in the ovals and be careful not to select more than the specifi ed number of candidates — known as over-voting. No vote can be counted in a race with over-voting because it is impossible to determine voter intent.

In addition, Ouellette stressed voters should mail or personally deliver their own ballots and never rely on an outside

party that offers to per-form that task on their behalf.

In the primary, com-pleted ballots had to be physically returned to the county election bureau by 8 p.m. on Elec-tion Day, and postmarks did not count.

That has changed for the general election. The state Supreme Court last week granted the Demo-cratic Party’s request to order a three-day extension, which means mailed ballots received by 5 p.m. Nov. 6 must be counted if they were postmarked by the time polls closed on Election Day.

Mail-in voters can bring their completed ballots directly to the election bureau in the county-owned Penn Place building at 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Wilkes-Barre.

As the election nears, the county also plans to again permit voters to take their ballots to the counter at the Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton post offi ces, where the ballots will be segregated and picked up several times daily by a county courier

or deputy sheriff, elimi-nating any mail delays, Watchilla said.

The recent Supreme Court ruling also autho-rized counties to use drop boxes for mail-in ballots — something that had been identifi ed as a need by county election board members.

SecurityOnly one valid ballot

can be issued to each voter, tracked through the unique barcode.

Watchilla said there is no chance two ballots would be counted for the same voter — one in person and one by mail — because the sign-in books at polling places fl ag voters who received mail-in ballots.

In the primary, all vot-ers who received mail-in ballots had to use a special provisional paper ballot if they appeared in person. Provisional ballots are counted last, and the election data-base shows if the county already received a mail-in ballot that would prevent the provisional one from being tabulated.

That procedure still remains in the Nov. 3 general, with one excep-tion, Watchilla said.

Voters who received mail-in ballots will be permitted to cast regular ballots on the electronic machines at their polling places if they bring in the never-returned mail-in ballot and entire packet that had been sent by the county so it can be void-ed or “spoiled,” Watchilla

said. If those materials are not presented, a provisional ballot will be required.

Ballots are kept in a locked room until they can be opened. The key is in another locked room

with access controlled by Watchilla.

Bi-partisan teams of election workers tabulate the mail-in ballots at the county’s Penn Place building. Observation is open to a representative

of each political party and candidates or their representatives.

Updates on all election notices are posted on the election page at www.luzernecounty.org.

File photoLeading up to the June 2 primary election, Luzerne County worker Dana McGonigle scans bar codes that track which voters have returned mail-in ballots.

From page 3

Mail-in

KEEP UP TO DATE ON ELECTION NEWS AT TIMESLEADER.COM

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IN-PERSON VOTING

File photoLuzerne County Election Director Shelby Watchilla demonstrates the voting process on the county’s new ballot marking devices.

Casting ballot at polling place still an optionBy Jennifer [email protected]

Luzerne County voters interested in casting their ballots in person Nov. 3 will use new voting machines — most for the first time.

The machines were reserved for the disabled in the June 2 primary due to coronavirus pandemic challenges recruiting and training poll workers, with others voters required to cast paper ballots.

On the new touchscreen machines, voters will make selections as they did with the old devices. But instead of touching a screen box to lock in their votes, they will receive a paper print-out to verify their selections before they feed the paper into a tabulator to be read and saved in compliance with a state paper-trail mandate.

Residents who cast paper ballots at polling places in the primary already used part of this new system when they placed their ballots into the tabulators

to be read, county Election Director Shelby Watchilla has noted.

The tabulator step is essential because that’s when votes are cast, Watchilla said. Poll workers will remind voters because their ballots won’t be cast if they leave the polling location with their ballot, she said.

Public demonstrations of the new machines were held for four days last week in the courthouse rotunda on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. County Election Board members conducted the

sessions and answered questions about the system, which was purchased from Dominion Voting Systems Inc.

The county started poll worker train-ing on the new machines last week, Watchilla said.

Polling locationsIn the primary, the number of voting

sites was temporarily reduced from 144 to 58 to alleviate concerns about

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proper social distancing and pandemic-related shortages of poll workers and polling places.

The plan is to return to all pre-coronavirus pandemic polling places on Nov. 3.

County Manager C. David Pedri said he will release a list by the end of the month stating any polling locations unwilling to host an elec-tion due to coronavirus concerns, such as elderly residential facilities.

Election workers will wear masks and have hand sanitizer available for voters, said county Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik.

As in the primary, voters without masks will be politely asked to wear a face covering for the protection of others, although those refusing will still be permitted to vote, officials said.

Voters also will be expected to adhere to social distancing guide-lines as much as possible inside polling places and outside if there are lines to get in. Reminder signs will be posted.

Upon arrival, voters must sign in on an elec-tronic poll book. Parsnik said it’s still unclear if the county will provide voters with a take-home stylus or clean a shared stylus between uses with disinfecting wipes.

Special screen wipes will be used to clean the ballot marking devices, he said.

From page 5

In-person

File photoLuzerne County’s new election system to be used Nov. 3 requires voters to make selections on a touchscreen as they did with the old devices.

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NATIONAL MEDIA

2020 Election:Will it be déjà vu all over again?By Bill O’[email protected]

WILKES-BARRE — In 2016, most political observers didn’t see a Trump victory on

the horizon.Despite drawing thousands

of people to every rally he held, Donald Trump couldn’t win the presidential election, the experts and polls all said.

They were wrong.Now, four years later, we

asked a few national media people how they see the 2020 election. Can Trump win anoth-er term, or will former Vice President Joe Biden energize the Democratic Party and its members to defeat the incum-bent Republican.

In 2016, the “flip to Trump” movement caught the eyes of national and international media — after the fact, of course.

Representatives from the Wall Street Journal, Time and Newsweek magazines, Reuters, Le Monde of Paris, TV crews from Germany, Australia, Canada and Japan, The Wash-ington Post, New York Times and more descended upon the county to find out why Trump was so popular.

Ben Bradlee, Jr.Bradlee penned the best-sell-

ing book “The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America.”

Bradlee talked with several NEPA people and he said he keeps in touch with many of them. He said he’s been told there are far more Biden signs in the region than were out for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Are the signs a sign?Fact check: There are still

plenty of Trump signs dotting the local landscape, however.

“I see a very different election this time than in 2016,” Bradlee said. “The foremost reason is that Trump is the president — he has a record. The country is in a meltdown on his watch.”

Bradlee said the COVID-19 pandemic has been “a disas-ter” and it’s spilled over to the nation’s economy.

“And he’s been impeached,” Bradlee added. “He lies con-stantly — nothing he says can be believed anymore. He uses the Justice Department as if it’s his own law firm.

“I just think that people have had enough of him.”

All that said, Bradlee acknowledges that Trump still has a strong following.

“He’s taken over the Republi-can Party,” he said. “The party doesn’t stand for anything — Times Leader File photo

Ben Bradlee Jr. wrote a best-selling book “The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America” about Luzerne County’s impact on the 2016 presidential election.See MEDIA | 8

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they just support Trump. It’s become a cult.”

Biden, Bradlee said, is the “un-Hillary.” He said the former VP is a mod-erate who doesn’t talk down to people.

“Biden is a uniter; Trump is a divider,” Bradlee said. “Trump behaves as the president of his base, not of the country. It’s like he has hypnotized his base.”

Bradlee said Trump’s 2016 contention that he is so popular, he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue in New York City and get away with it still holds true.

“Trump is living in an alternate universe where he’s been able to main-tain his base,” Bradlee said. “His base gives him a pass on everything because they like him the way he stirs things up every day and sticks it to the media. And he can be cruel on Twitter. His base seems to lap it up.”

So what will it take to defeat Trump? Bradlee says most voters have already made their deci-sion — leaving few unde-cided remaining.

He said the major cam-paign event yet to hap-pen will be when the two candidates debate.

Bradlee said he feels Trump made a strategic error by trying to make Biden out to be a dodder-ing fool who is out of it totally.

“I see a very low bar for Biden to clear in the debates,” Bradlee said. “Trump has painted him as a guy with Alzheim-er’s and who is out of it.”

Bradlee said voters

“took a flyer” on Trump in 2016.

“They wanted wanted someone who was going to turn over the dining room table and break some china,” he said. “But four years ago, Trump was an outsider. Now he’s a president with a record.”

Trip Gabriel The New York Times

Gabriel said Northeast Pennsylvania — the Scranton media market of about 16 counties — is going to be crucial this year as it was in 2016.

He said the region only includes about 12 percent of the statewide electorate, but it’s where Trump did incredible damage to Hillary Clin-

ton four years ago.Gabriel noted that

Trump improved on the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, by about 55,000 votes combined in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

“That’s more than his total statewide margin of victory (44,000 votes),” Gabriel said. “He won Luzerne by 20 percent-age points. He didn’t carry Lackawanna, but he cut his losses to 3.5 points from Romney’s 27-point deficit — devas-tating.”

To carry Pennsylva-nia again, Gabriel said Trump has to do even better in the region and in these counties, which he said is possible, but a challenge.

“That’s because he is likely to give up ground in southeast Pennsylva-nia compared to 2016,” Gabriel said. “The Philadelphia suburbs have swung very sharply against Republicans in the last three elections, which have largely been a referendum on Trump. Biden is not going to win Luzerne — or let’s put it this way, if he does win it, he will carry the state in a landslide. Biden’s task is to just cut into Trump’s winning margins in Luzerne and to improve on Clinton’s very poor showing in Lackawanna.”

Gabriel said he hesi-tates to say how the two counties are currently leaning. The latest state

polls have been all over the map. He said it seems to be a very fluid race.

“The one thing for certain is that both candidates know they must carry Pennsylvania, which explains their frequent visits — Trump to Old Forge a couple of weeks ago and to Latrobe; and Biden’s vis-its to his hometown and to Pittsburgh in recent weeks,” Gabriel said.

David Weigel The Washington Post

Weigel said patterns in the last couple of non-presidential elections show that the gains that Trump made were not fully erased in 2018 He said some patterns con-tinue.

“The polling we’ve seen indicate Lackawa-nna County will be much kinder to Biden than Clinton,” Weigel said. “But to win Pennsylva-nia, Biden must have the conservatives in the Democratic Party come over and vote.

Weigel, like Bradlee, noted Trump’s constant rude tone is a sharp con-trast to Biden’s persona. And, he said. Biden has said repeatedly that he will preserve Social Secu-rity and Medicare.

Weigel also said the televised debates will be key.

“Trump has made so much fun of Biden, say-ing he can’t talk without a teleprompter,” Weigel said. “Biden must dis-prove that, must show strength.”

In a recent story Wei-gel wrote for The Wash-ington Post, he said in 2016, “Democrats bet on a few trends that simply

did not materialize, like a suburban vote surge overwhelming losses in rural areas, and subur-ban women jumping — maybe at the last minute — for the chance to elect a female president.”

His story said Clinton ended up losing the votes of white women by nine points, according to exit polls, and losing the suburbs by four points. Meanwhile, voters with-out college degrees, who had backed Barack Obama’s 2012 bid by 15 points, went for Trump by seven points.

Weigel’s story said Trump won three coun-ties — Erie, Luzerne, Northampton — that were carried by the 2012 Obama-Biden ticket; Clinton won one county, Chester, that the party had lost four years ear-lier.

“That obscures the scale of Republican gains, which turned places that Obama had lost by a few points into places where Clinton lost by landslides,” Weigel’s story stated. “In 2018, Democrats romped back and swept Pennsylvania’s statewide elections, but some of these voters didn’t come back. Even Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D), the scion of Scran-ton’s most successful political family, watched his vote share decline in Northeast Pennsylvania. Statewide, his margin from 2012 to 2018 grew from 10 points to 13 points. But instead of narrowly winning Phila-delphia’s outer suburbs, he won them in a rout; instead of romping in the Northeast, he fought to

From page 7

Media

Well-known former deputy managing editor of the Boston Globe Ben Bradlee Jr., oversaw the Globe’s investigation of Boston’s clerical sexual abuse scandal that was later made into the movie “Spotlight,” the name of the investigative unit.He also penned the best selling book “The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America.”

Trip Gabriel is a national correspondent. He covered the 2016 and 2012 presidential campaigns, including spending all of 2015 in Iowa for the run-up to the state’s caucuses.He travelled extensively in battleground states to write about candidates and interview voters.He has served as the Mid-Atlantic bureau chief, covering poverty in Appalachia and the corruption trial of an ex-Virginia governor.

Trip GabrielNew York Times

David WeigelWashington Post

National reporter covering politics.Education: Northwestern University, B.S. in Journalism, 2004.David Weigel is a national political correspondent covering Congress and grass-roots political movements.He is the author of “The Show That Never Ends,” a history of progressive rock music.

Ben Bradlee, Jr.Author

See MEDIA | 11

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a draw.”From Weigel’s story in The Washington Post:“In 2018, Democrats swept statewide races

and picked up House seats, with Republican nominees for governor and U.S. Senate holding on to rural areas, while the vote in suburban Philadelphia, northeast Pennsylvania and Erie County swung back toward Joe Biden’s party.

“The key swing region is the Northeast — from Allentown to Scranton to the deeply conservative townships of Wayne and Pike counties.”

Here we go again.

Times Leader File photoBen Bradlee Jr., flanked by Lynette Villano and Ron Felton, talks about his book in Wilkes-Barre in 2018.

From page 10

Media

WHO’S RUNNING: LOCAL AND STATE RACESBy Bill O’[email protected]

WILKES-BARRE — Six seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives are up in this election — two candidates

are unopposed — along with three statewide offi ces and two Congressional seats.

And oh yeah, voters will decide on who will be the Presi-dent of the United States.

116th Legislative District

Todd Eachus, DemocratAge: 57Residence: Butler

TownshipEducation: Pitzer

College of the Claremont Colleges, B.A.

Family: Wife, Ellen; sons, Anthony, Benja-min, and Nathan.

Eachus previously served as Majority Lead-er in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Key issues: Raising the Quality of Education: Every year, it seems that property taxes increase while our quality of edu-cation decreases. The Hazleton Area School District has faced the unique obstacles of over-crowded classrooms, a lack of ESL resources, and a need for novel

programs to encourage recent graduates to stay in the area.

Addressing the Opioid Epidemic: We need to take a two-pronged to address opioid usage in Luzerne County: From a criminal justice perspec-tive, we need to prop-erly get the resources to prosecute opioid-related

deaths.Advocating for Sweep-

ing Transparency: I’m proposing sweeping anti-corruption legislation to end state-level gerryman-dering, restricting the infl uence of lobbyists in Harrisburg, and eliminat-ing archaic gift-giving rules.

Tarah Toohil, Republican (incumbent)

Age: 40Residence: Butler

TownshipEducation: Hazleton

Area H.S., Dual Bachelor Political Science & Soci-ology with Concentration Law & Legal; PSU Dick-inson Law School, J.D.

Family: Resides with her husband, Scot Bur-khardt, and their chil-dren in Drums.

Key issues: Health & Safety: I worked locally to create the Greater Hazleton Area COVID-19 Task Force to stabi-lize food banks, create quarantine housing, and coordinate daily with local hospitals. From the beginning of the pandemic, I have fought for increased COVID-19 testing and protections

for our senior citizens in nursing homes and per-sonal care homes.

Economy: I have fought for increased wages for my constitu-ents and over the years we have had wages double and even triple. I am dedicated to fi ghting the economic depression that the COVID-19 crisis has brought to small businesses and our work-ing families.

Education: Families are struggling to regain some semblance of nor-malcy for their children. Children in Pennsylvania are being exposed to increase levels of domes-tic violence, drug and alcohol abuse by caretak-ers, and physical, sexual and mental abuse at record levels.


Karen Boback, Republican (incumbent)

UnopposedAge: 69Town of residence:

Harveys Lake BoroughEducation: BA/MS

Misericordia University; MS Marywood Univer-sity; PhD University of Pennsylvania

Family:Husband of 46 years, Buz Boback; two children, Karen and Ber-nard; two grandchildren.

Key issues: My major focus is on anything Coronavirus-related. People want to get back to work but, in the mean-time, they need money to survive. Students want to get back to school, but safety is the number one

Eachus Toohill

STATE LEGISLATURE

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concern. Businesses are desperately trying to “get back to business.” As a legislator, I continue to address issues such as these through my offi ce and through legislation.

The elimination of school property tax has been, and will remain, a top priority.


Mike Carroll, Democrat (incumbent)

Age: 57Residence: AvocaEducation: Pittston

Area High School; BA University of Scranton

Family: Wife, Kelly; children, Matt, Macken-

zie and AliKey issues: Economic

development and job creation is always a top priority. Working with all local, state and fed-eral leaders, we must continuously work to provide an infrastructure and workforce that fos-ters economic develop-ment and job growth. As

Democratic chair of the House Transportation Committee, our region’s highway and bridge network including the new $45 million Airport Connector that joins the Grimes Business Park in Dupont and Pittston Township with I-81.

Providing adequate state funding to all public

schools must be a top priority for the sake of our students and local taxpayers. The continu-ing state under-funding of school districts results in both increased reli-ance on property taxes and a lessening of educa-tion opportunities for students.

Helping businesses, employees and families recover from the ravages of COVID 19 is plainly obvious. The list of businesses and families severely impacted by the steps taken to help contain viral spread is lengthy.

Andrew Holter,RepublicanAge: 32Residence: Lafl in

BoroughEducation: PhD can-

didate in Organizational Psychology; Master’s in Public Administration; B.S./A.A.S.

Family: Wife, Elyse, who is 16 weeks preg-nant with fi rst child.

Key issuesWe must work in a

bi-partisan manner to continue to address the COVID-19 crisis and to focus on the issues that will improve the lives of residents in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties:

Good paying jobs:

Work to safely restart our economy, provide small businesses with the help they need and sup-port effective job training programs for our workers

Eliminate School Prop-erty Taxes: Work across party lines to replace the current unfair system with one that is fair to all residents and properly funds our schools

Government Reforms: Work to end the pay-to-play system that rewards career politicians and enables corruption to run rampant and cost all taxpayers


Gerald Mullery, Democrat (incumbent)

Age: 50Residence: Newport

TownshipEducation: Greater

Nanticoke Area High School; King’s College; Duquesne University School of Law

Family: Wife, Michele; daughters Leah (20) & Lauren (18); sons Liam (14) & Louden (13)

Key issues: The issues most important to the people of the 119th Leg-islative District are the attraction and retention of family sustaining jobs,

elimination or reduc-tion of property taxes, and protection of their quality of life (access to affordable healthcare, safe neighborhoods, and quality public schools).

Worked with local, state and federal partners to reclaim mine-scarred lands to attract Fortune 500 companies and thou-sands of jobs to North-eastern Pennsylvania. I led the fi ght on HB-76 to fi nd a solution to crip-pling property taxes. Helped restore the draco-nian cuts to public educa-tion and secured funding to ensure our local police departments have the tools they need to keep our neighborhood safe.

John Chura, RepublicanAge: 54Residence: West

HazletonEducation: Bishop

Hafey High SchoolFamily: Wife, Diane; 2

children, Nick and Alex-andria; 4 grandchildren

Key issues: Will work with healthcare profes-sionals to control the spread of COVID-19 and return life back to nor-mal so that people can safely go back to work and school.

Boback Carroll Holter Mullery Chura

From page 11

Races

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Will fight for the elimi-nation of school property taxes that are forcing so many Northeast Penn-sylvanians from their homes and cut wasteful government spending in Harrisburg.

10 years on the West Hazleton zoning board, two years on the West Hazleton Borough Coun-cil and elected Mayor of West Hazleton in 2017.


Joanna Bryn Smith, Democrat

Age: 34Residence: Wyoming

BoroughEducation: Bishop

O’Reilly High School; Saint Joseph’s Univer-sity; City University of New York School of Law

Family: Raised by two public school teachers. Mother’s family immi-grated from Poland; her father’s family immigrat-ed from Wales.

Key issues: Educa-tion, employment and taxes, and access to affordable healthcare.

Acutely aware of the importance of education in a community, for mul-tiple reasons — a posi-tive community begins with good schools.

Taxes and employ-ment: People are struggling with rising property taxes, and in the 120th, the bulk of taxes are levied on the residents because of the 50 largest employers in Luzerne County, the 120th district is home to only seven of them.

Employment: Must consider that the unem-ployment number does not tell the whole story of our workers. We need jobs that pay a living wage and therefore the tax burden on us would be reduced.

Affordable health care and life-saving prescrip-tion drugs.: In the United States, we pay double than any other country for our healthcare. The cost of healthcare has gone up six times since 1992 — no one’s salary has increased six times since 1992.

Aaron Kaufer, Republican (incumbent)

Age: 32Residence: KingstonEducation: Lafayette

College B.A. Govern-ment and Law; Interna-tional Affairs Widener University Common-wealth Law J.D.

Family: Wife, Annie; dog, Murphy

Key issues: With the impacts of COVID devastating our region and Commonwealth, the recovery moving forward will play a crucial role in the com-ing months. We need more people willing to work across the aisle regardless of political

affiliation, and this is the mentality that I will continue to bring to resolving our region’s and Commonwealth’s biggest issues.

121st Legislative District

Eddie Day Pashinski, Democrat (incumbent)

UnopposedAge: 75Residence: Wilkes-

BarreEducation: Penn State

UniversityFamily: 4 childrenKey issues: Health

Care — it continues to be a financial burden for most Americans and far more can and must be done to reduce the cost so all Americans can afford to have a quality health care plan.

Education — Reduce the cost of higher ed. through proposed legislation that would provide a program call (DPP ) Delayed Pay-ment plan which is a no interest loan for 10 years after graduation and receiving a full time job.

Realigning taxes — so that the system is fair and balanced for the retiree, the working class and the businessman.

This can be done by conducting a financial assessment of all aspects of our lives and establish a fair system that will allow all strata of our society a chance to pay their fair share and live a full and productive life.

8th Congressional District

Matt Cartwright, Democrat (incumbent)

Age: 59Residence: Moosic

BoroughEducation: B.A.,

Hamilton College (1983); J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law

School (1986)Family: Wife, Marion

Munley Cartwright; chil-dren, Jack and Matthew Cartwright

Key issues: I will prioritize a continued, strong public health and economic response to COVID-19 to get the

Bryn Smith Kaufer

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Pashinski BognetCartwright

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India: President Donald Trump addressing to 110,000 people in India at Patel Stadium. Trump said that he has very good relationship with Pakistan and Pakistan’s Prime

Minister Imran Khan is a good friend.Foreign Minster of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Trump’s comment on Pakistan

were “extraordinary” and one could not deny their importance.This is a great diplomatic effort from Dr. Kathio and Pakistan diplomats that we

cultivated huge diplomatic success on foreign soil thanks to Trump and his kind words. India’s Prime Minister Modi failed to deliver a statement from Trump against Pakistan.

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virus under control, sup-port workers and families who are struggling, and lay the foundation for a full economic recovery and job creation, one where all people — not just the wealthy — get to enjoy the benefi ts.

I will also continue working to lower pre-scription drug costs, and protect and expand access to affordable health care as well as Medicare and Social Security for Northeast-ern Pennsylvania’s older residents.

Since taking offi ce in 2013, I have introduced more legislation sup-ported by both Demo-crats and Republicans

than any other House Democrat.

In the past few years, I have gotten bills signed into law by the president that protect low-income veterans from being scammed out of their hard-earned benefi ts, prevent government offi cials from using tax-payer dollars on personal expenses, and safeguard the rights of child por-nography victims.

Jim Bognet, RepublicanAge: 45Residence: HazletonEducation: BA Penn

State University; JD/MBA University of Cali-fornia Los Angeles

Family: Born and raised in Hazleton, Ital-ian-Irish family.

Key issues: Make

China Pay: PA-8 has suf-fered grievously from Chinese actions on both jobs and health. We used to be a manufacturing hub, making products that were sold around the world. Many of these factories went under as China stole technology, and pursued a national agenda to take jobs away

from U.S. manufacturing.Support Law Enforce-

ment: The men and women of law enforce-ment put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. For those that want to “defund the police” — not on my watch

Protect Medicare, Social Security: I’m run-ning for Congress to fi ght for people like my dad, who have worked hard to run a business, have paid their dues, and shouldn’t be left out in the cold because of political gamesmanship from both parties in Washington D.C. When I’m in Washington I will work every day to pro-tect Medicare and Social Security and to make sure that the people of Northeast Pennsylvania will never have to worry about losing health care because of pre-existing conditions.

9th Congressional

DistrictDan Meuser, Republican (incumbent)

Age: 56Residence: Dallas

BoroughEducation: New York

Maritime University; Cornell University

Family: Wife, Shelley; three children

Key issues: Job Creation: Under the leadership of President Trump and Congres-sional Republicans, policies were enacted to reduce taxes and over-regulation. Those poli-cies allowed the private sector to create jobs and build the greatest economy Pennsylvania has seen in over 100 years. The COVID-19 pandemic intentionally slowed that growth, but we are already seeing the economy climbing back and I have no doubt we can build an even better economy than we had before.

Security: I am com-mitted to supporting our brave law enforcement offi cers as we must work with them to institute any necessary policing reforms. We must put a stop to the violent riots plaguing many of America’s largest cities. Additionally, we must continue to fully support a strong national defense and enhanced border security.

Rebuilding and Revital-izing America: Improv-ing America’s infrastruc-ture is a bipartisan issue and it is critical to every aspect of our country, including public safety and commerce. I have

introduced legislation, the America Infrastruc-ture Bank, which would help to advance the creation of public-private partnerships.

Gary Wegman, DemocratAge: 63Residence: LimekilnEducation: Lafayette

College, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine

Family: Wife, Anne; daughters, Cecile and Margot; son, Berenger.

Key issues: Health care: Reforming the US health care system to make it less expensive, more effi cient and more accessible, with better quality of care and better outcomes; will sponsor legislation to regulate the prices of critical prescrip-tion medications and create a 50-state solution to meet American health-care needs.

Infrastructure/trans-portation: Creating a massive public trans-portation infrastructure investment program by proposing Nationwide Infrastructure and Trans-portation Enterprise (NITE) — would be the biggest infrastructure investment program since the Eisenhower Administration.

Agriculture: As a 5th generation farmer, Weg-man understands small business values and the hardships of owning a rural business. He will champion district-wide broadband roll-out, pro-vide incentives for hemp processing, and work to bring a cheese and yogurt manufacturing facility to the 9th District to leverage Pennsylva-nia’s surplus milk supply.

Meuser Wegman

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State RacesAttorney General

Josh Shapiro, Demo-crat (incumbent)

Heather Heidelbaugh, Republican

Auditor GeneralNina Ahmad, Demo-

cratTimothy DeFoor,

Republican

TreasurerJoe Torsella, Democrat

(incumbent)Stacy Garrity, Repub-

lican

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Races Make Election Day go smoothlyElection Day gives

voters throughout the United States a chance to participate in their government. The right to vote is something to cherish, as many people across the globe do not get a chance to elect the officials who govern their countries.

While Election Day is an exciting time, voters may find it frustrat-ing if they do not take steps to ensure things go smoothly when they head to the polls. The following tips can help voters prepare for Elec-tion Day.

• Confirm your poll-

ing location. Polling locations may have changed since last year, and voters who have moved in the past 12 months may now have to vote in a new loca-tion. Voters can contact

their local board of elections or visit www.Vote411.org to confirm the correct polling loca-tions. Voters should also learn the hours when the polls are open so they do not arrive too early or too late to vote.

• Bring photo identi-fication. Voter identifica-tion laws vary by state, but voters who want to avoid hassles or holdups may be able to do so by bringing current photo identification with them to the polling place. While such identifica-tion is not necessarily a Voting on Election Day is a privilege that voters should not take

lightly. Taking certain steps in the weeks ahead of Election Day can make it easier for voters to cast their ballots.

voters may find it frustrating if they do not take steps to ensure things go smoothly when they head to the polls. The following tips can help voters prepare for Election Day.

See DAY | 16

Joanna Bryn Smith for State Representative, District 120

“I was raised by public school teachers. We can fairly fund schools AND

provide property tax relief by closing tax loopholes for the politically connected.”

— JOANNA BRYN SMITH

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Paid for and Authorized by the people for Joanna Bryn Smith80969774

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requirement, voters who bring along a driver’s license or state identifi cation card may get in and out of the polling place more quickly than those who do not.

• Confi rm registration. Voters can confi rm that they have registered to vote by contacting their local board of elections in advance of Election Day. Sometimes voters’ names may not appear on the registration list when they arrive to vote, even if they previously registered. Poll workers can help voters who fi nd themselves in such situations. But voters who want to avoid such hassles on Election Day can confi rm their registration beforehand.

• Be familiar with the candidates and issues on the ballot. Voting is a privilege and a responsibility, so voters should familiarize themselves with the candi-dates and issues on the ballot in the weeks leading up to Election Day. In addition to national or statewide candidates and issues, voters should learn about local issues that may have a more direct impact on their daily lives. The more voters learn about the candi-dates and issues in advance, the more quickly they can cast their votes and get to work or return home.

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Submitted by Luzerne County Election Board member Joyce Dombroski-GebhardtLuzerne County voters try the new voting system during a public demonstration at the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre last week.

Documents

Part I: Everything you need to know about Navigating the 2020 … · 2020. 9. 19. · F1 Part I: Everything you need to know about Navigating the 2020 Election Sunday, September 20,