Luzerne County’s Election Bureau has officially received and unpacked its new fleet of voting equipment from Hart InterCivic ahead of the upcoming Nov. 3 general election, according to details disclosed in the county manager’s monthly division report. The arrival of the machinery marks the completion of a long-planned transition toward modernizing the county’s voting infrastructure following an initial delay earlier in the year.
County officials had originally entered into an agreement last year to lease newly engineered ballot-marking devices along with updated tabulators and scanners from Hart InterCivic. However, because the vendor was still awaiting formal state certification for its new Vanguard model during the spring, the county was forced to deploy an older, temporary version of the vendor's equipment during the May 19 primary election.
The Pennsylvania Department of State has since granted the necessary official certification for the Vanguard system, paving the way for the county to receive the authorized units. Following the arrival and unpacking of the certified hardware, county election workers packaged and returned the loaned primary-election machines to Hart. To facilitate a smooth transition, Hart agreed to provide comprehensive operational training for the new machinery at no additional expense to county taxpayers.
Alongside hardware upgrades, the county has also modernized its electoral transparency measures by launching a fully operational online campaign finance database. The implementation of this platform allows members of the public to directly inspect campaign finance filings online without the cumbersome requirement of submitting individual formal requests to the Election Bureau.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo presented the campaign finance update during a recent council work session in response to council inquiries. The digital platform was realized through a $23,000 contract with EasyVote Solutions, a project Crocamo characterized as running smoothly and remaining fully up to date. The public may freely review the filed campaign reports through the dedicated election section on the county’s official website.
In addition to administrative advancements, local election governance continues with the county’s five-member volunteer Election Board scheduled to convene for a public meeting on Wednesday evening. The citizen-led board will meet at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with instructions for remote public attendance made available through the county council’s online board listings.
County division reports also highlighted internal departmental logistics, including an update from the county’s Planning, Zoning, and GIS office regarding the fate of an aging piece of county equipment affectionately nicknamed “Harry Plotter.” GIS, Planning, and Zoning Director Dan Reese briefed County Council members on the legacy machine after Crocamo requested an overview of the unit referenced in her administrative report.
Reese explained that the machine functions as a large-format specialty printer, likening its output capacity to that of a heavy-duty inkjet device operating on steroids. The county-owned hardware is roughly 12 years old and was designated obsolete in 2018, creating logistical headaches when it recently required maintenance. Because local regional repair services declined to service the outdated hardware, Reese had to locate a specialized technician based in the Lehigh Valley to complete repairs.
The GIS department is in the process of acquiring a more compact, modern plotter better tailored to its current mapping workflow. Rather than discarding the veteran machine, county officials plan to reassign "Harry Plotter" to the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency to assist with critical large-scale mapping operations.
Charles Krommes, the operations and training officer for the county’s emergency management division, highlighted the practical value of the large-format printer during high-stakes incidents. Krommes noted to council members that the legacy plotter proved vital during a recent wildfire, where staff used it to generate oversized emergency evacuation maps for first responders. The anecdote prompted Council Chairman Jimmy Sabatino to remark that the machine had managed to save the day once again.
Beyond administrative operations and emergency response, county officials are advancing key regulatory proposals, including a comprehensive draft zoning amendment addressing commercial data centers. The proposed ordinance is currently under review by the county law office before it is submitted to the County Council for legislative consideration.
If formally enacted by the council, the data center regulations will directly apply to 19 municipalities that do not operate their own independent zoning boards and instead rely on county-level land-use administration. The affected jurisdictions encompass the boroughs of Avoca, Courtdale, Dupont, Duryea, Hughestown, Jeddo, Laflin, New Columbus, Pringle, Warrior Run, West Wyoming, and Yatesville, as well as the townships of Conyngham, Fairmount, Hunlock, Huntington, Lake, Ross, and Union.
The regulatory framework arrived at the law office after the Luzerne County Planning Commission voted in May to recommend the measure to County Council. The planning board’s recommendation followed extensive deliberation involving four separate structural revisions and multiple public comment periods to balance technical requirements with community feedback.
Under the terms of the draft ordinance, developers seeking to construct data centers will face an exhaustive series of developmental conditions and will be required to obtain special exception approval from the county Zoning Hearing Board. For the measure to become local law, the County Council must first hold an introductory vote, conduct a formal public hearing, and subsequently approve the ordinance by a majority vote at a following legislative session.
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