Gaughan made chairman of Lackawanna County Election Board

Democratic Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan will chair the county election board tasked with certifying the results of the May primary and November general elections this year.

Fellow Commissioners Thom Welby, a Democrat, and Chris Chermak, a Republican, voted with Gaughan to make Gaughan chairman when the election board reorganized last week. Gaughan had motioned moments earlier to make Welby chair, and seemed somewhat surprised when his colleagues moved to elevate him to the position.

Welby will serve as vice chair of the board that also approved several permanent polling place changes last week.

The board specifically voted to relocate the polling locations for Carbondale Ward 5, Precinct 1, and Carbondale Ward 6, Precinct 2, from the Mitchell Hose Company to the Carbondale Trinity Club, 83 S. Main St.

County Elections Director Beth Hopkins told the board her department received “numerous complaints” about the Mitchell Hose Company polling location from poll and election workers.

“So we went to those poll workers (and) asked them for an adequate place to relocate the polling place to,” she said. “Our deputy director of elections went out and did accessibility studies, and the Carbondale Trinity Club is within four blocks of that precinct and met all the requirements to be ADA-accessible.”

The board also approved the permanent relocation of Moosic’s Wards 2 and 4 from the Greenwood Hose Company No. 1 to the Moosic Youth Center, 606 Main St.

Voters there had been voting at the youth center for the past three elections, it having served as a temporary polling place during a Greenwood Hose Company construction project. Last week’s vote makes the change permanent, Hopkins said.

“And I just want to mention too that all of these voters will be notified,” she said. “The letters are prepared that will go out to every voter in all of these districts to inform them of the permanent move.”

The primary election is May 19.

Unregistered would-be voters have until May 4 to register if they want to vote in the primary, and until May 12 to apply for a civilian absentee or mail-in primary ballot if they don’t plan to vote in person at their polling place. Mail-in and civilian absentee ballots must be returned and received by county elections departments by 8 p.m. on May 19.