I've been an ardent advocate of mail-in ballots (MIBs). They make it easier for people to vote and should increase turnout. They are a great convenience to those with mobility issues or many people who work two or three jobs to make ends meet. Though possible, I see no more fraud than exists in other forms of voting. But I presume that elections officials are actually sending the correct ballots. Unfortunately, in one Easton City Council race, it is certainly possible that the wrong ballots have been sent to several voters.
According to Sharbel Koorie, who is running for Easton City Council District 2, has been contacted by a voter in his district who received a MIB for a City Council race in another district. The elections office conceded the error and explained that an elections worker made the mistake of placing the wrong ballot in the envelope intended for a District 2 voter. They minimized the possibility that others have received the wrong ballot by saying they received no calls.
Frankly, that does nothing to reassure me. Many voters in local races have little understanding of who is running in what district and would likely just assume everything is as it should be. In reality, this kind of error could very well disenfranchise several voters in that district race. It could hurt Koorie. It could also hurt his opponent, Julie Zando-Dennis, even more. She's a Democrat, and Democrats tend to like MIBs.
There is no way of knowing for sure unless those ballots are segregated with the return envelopes and opened separately to ensure that the ballots are correct. It's questionable whether this can be done without violating Pa law providing that ballots are private.
Here's the email I received from Koorie:
A voter in the 8th Ward East area of the City of Easton received a mail in a ballot with the correct envelope label but the wrong ballot for district 2. The ballot he received was for district 3 and had Susan Hartranft-Bittinger's name on it, not my name or my opponent's name. This was explained to me at the voters office as a human error. They told me the process of how they are mailed and received. They said that when they mail these out they do one ward at a time in a bin, they print the labels, adhere them to the envelopes and then stuff the coordinating ballots. Sometimes while doing this they said they could run out of ballots and the person would go back to the room and get more ballots. They believe someone grabbed the wrong ballot by accident and mailed it. My concern is we don't know how many people may have received the wrong ballot, this person's last name started with an "S" does that mean everyone after "S" received the wrong ballot or did they run out of ballots at the letter "L" and everyone after received the wrong ballot. They claim that if there were more people they would have already called by now.
I happened to see the woman who lives across the street from the person who received the wrong ballot and she claimed she voted for me already. I asked her if she remembered how many names were on the ballot for Easton city council she believed only one, I explained that was incorrect there should have been two, she followed up and said she can't remember 100% it was a week ago that she filled it out but believes it was one.
We are running in a small district which had around 365 votes in the primary and this fall we could have 6-700 votes total. A few wrong ballots could sway the election one way or another. This particular voter went to the county courthouse while I was there and they verified he received the wrong ballot and gave him a new ballot and yellow envelope. I just feel this is wrong. I have been knocking on doors for 12 weeks working hard to meet all the voters and was feeling real good about my chances of winning. I'm going to continue working hard until election day. Am I overreacting or could this be an issue.
I informed my opponent so that she was also aware. I also reached out to the Republican party officials to let them know as well. Should the county put something out on their site since they actually verified the wrong ballot was mailed just in case there are others? My number again is [redacted] if you have any questions. I know you have the pulse of the county and would know what should be done to make sure everything was fair.
I appreciate you reading this long rant.
Sincerely,
Sharbel Koorie candidate for Easton City Council representing District 2
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