Polls opened at 7 a.m. on Election Day in Pennsylvania, but not in Laflin Borough, in Luzerne County. The polls there opened at 8:30, an hour and a half late.
In response, the Luzerne County Board of Elections went to court seeking permission to extend voting hours in Laflin, which is near Wilkes-Barre. The court agreed to the extension and ordered the polling place to be open for 90 extra minutes, closing at 9:30 p.m.
The Luzerne County Democrat party and the state Republican Party joined the county in requesting an extension.
The court filing did not explain why the polling place opened late, saying only that the Board of Elections learned that “election officers failed to timely open the polling location in Laughlin which resulted in delays in the process of voting.”
Local television WNEP reported that the judge of elections arrived late and when the poll did finally open, workers could not open the ballot scanner, leaving the first voters to vote by paper.
Bad Ballots
Voting was extended in Cambria County too, after the electronic voting system software malfunctioned. This caused long lines, and some voters left before voting.
According to Cambria’s court filing to request extended voting hours, the system was down for hours and was not functioning by the time the county filed the request for more time.
The court agreed to extend voting until 10 p.m., but after 8 p.m. in Cambria, all votes will be provisional.
The Department of
