LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — As the clocks countdown to Election Day, officials in Luzerne County are taking extra steps to protect county employees.
Instead of reporting to Penn Place along North Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, many county employees will be working off-site.
“The other departments will be relocated to other county buildings. That was what the recommendations of Homeland Security,” said County Manager Romilda Crocamo.
She says Penn Place will be open to the public for Election Day purposes only.
Voters will still be able to drop off their mail-in ballots between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
“I'm mostly worried, obviously, about my staff, and then, of course, we have to secure the ballots, so they're our primary concern,” said Crocamo.
Crocamo says the added security comes after threats were made toward county and election officials.
“Security here, as there is every day it'll be ramped up the pool workers received a panic button software,” said Crocamo.
As the county prepares for another busy presidential election, Crocamo says the lessons learned this year will help them plan for the future.
“It's an easy but unfortunate answer; no, we never have,” said Crocamo when asked if she’s ever experienced something like this before. “We have protocols in place now and will have them in place for all elections going forward.”
More than 37,000 mail-in ballots have already been received here at Penn Place election officials in the county expect a large in person voter turnout come Election Day.