The ballot-question battle in Lackawanna County has gotten a lot more interesting.
A last-minute challenge filed Tuesday asks county court to block a proposed referendum on a county government study commission, setting up what could be a protracted fight over what question or questions voters will see on the May 21 primary ballot.
The latest petition, filed by attorney Frank Tunis Jr. on behalf of Dickson City resident Andrea Benford, contends most of the signatures collected by study commission proponents led by Dunmore insurance executive Chuck Volpe to get their question on the ballot were improperly obtained and therefore invalid.
On the other side, two petitions are pending, including one by Mr. Volpe, to set aside a competing ballot question backed by majority Commissioners Corey O'Brien and Jim Wansacz that would amend the county Home Rule Charter to abolish four elected row offices.
The issue will be decided by a three-judge panel acting simultaneously as the county Board of Elections. As of Tuesday evening, no hearing had been scheduled.
Mr. Volpe's proposed ballot question would ask voters if a commission should be elected to study the existing form of county government and possibly recommend changes.
By law, supporters of the initiative needed to gather the signatures of at least 3,490 registered voters to get the question on the ballot; they collected more than 6,100.
In his challenge, filed just hours before the 5 p.m. deadline, Mr. Tunis questioned the validity of the signatures, which were gathered on 280 separate petitions.
Mr. Tunis said state law requires the person circulating a petition to affirm by affidavit that he or she was present when each voter signed.
However, an "overwhelming majority" of signatures collected on study commission petitions were obtained by "multiple third parties" and not by the circulators who executed the affidavits, making all of the signatures on the petitions invalid, Mr. Tunis argued in court papers.
"We have information - credible information - that a good majority of these circulators were in fact not present when these electors signed these petitions," he said later Tuesday.
He said he was prepared to subpoena the individuals who circulated the petitions, "and they are going to have to testify under oath that they were present when each person on that list physically signed the petition."
Mr. Volpe's attorney, Frank Ruggiero, said he had not seen Mr. Tunis' filing but maintained the signatures submitted to the Department of Elections were properly obtained.
"We have no reason to believe that our signatures are invalid," he said.
In a second argument, Mr. Tunis contends the only way to alter the county's existing 35-year-old Home Rule Charter is by amending it. The proposed government study commission is not the "proper statutory mechanism" for amending the charter, he said.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com