Michael Susek named next Luzerne County election director
WILKES-BARRE (WOLF) — "I knew I wanted to go for it."
Michael Susek did go for the Luzerne County election director vacancy- and got it, acting county manager Romilda Crocamo announced Thursday.
Susek, born and raised in Luzerne County, brings plenty of election experience to the area after spending years in Colorado.
"When I was out west for 15 years I worked in election administration," Susek said. "Very passionate about it. Loved doing it."
But there will be several challenges Susek will need to tackle head on- including election trust. In previous elections in Luzerne County, there have been serious issues.
There were the military ballots found in a dumpster before the 2020 presidential election. Last May- Dominion Voting machines read Democratic ballot when Republicans were voting.
This past November, two flash drives containing hundreds of votes on it were never counted on election night. The flash drives weren't found for days.
When asked if Luzerne County voters trust the election process, Susek said, "I don't know. I hope that they do. I hope that they do. They absolutely should."
County councilman and soon-to-be county controller, Walter Griffith, disagrees.
"I don't think that voters do trust the election process. Once you lose people's trust it's very difficult to get it back. Probably takes years and decades to get it back," Griffith said.
"Elections are very much a human process. You are going to have administrative errors from time to time," Susek said.
Susek's first day is Monday.
"One of the big challenges Luzerne County faced was the amount of turnover and leadership that's it had in the last couple of years. That institutional memory kept going away," Susek said.
