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
16 comments:
She has a very valid point. As humans handle the MIBs there will be human error, fact of life. The elections office must make every effort to rectify and oversee this situation.
“Should the county put something out on their site since they actually verified the wrong ballot was mailed just in case there are others?”
Yes, because sooo many people visit the county website
Another BIG F+++ up by Mr. McClure. He can't blame this one on Dertinger. Who will be his fall guy this time? Thanks for keeping us informed Bernie. How many times does that office have to screw up before real professionals are brought in to conduct elections. McClure takes credit for all the successes. When is he going to fess up to all the failures and blunders and this is a real BLUNDER.
Mail-ins are meant to be difficult to administer. It's not a feature. It's a design. They are a blight on the democratic process. I don't trust either party with them. They are a scam waiting to happen. Most voters know this.
Take a deep breath. The entire thing will be hand reviewed in the official canvass. If there was a widespread error, they can go to court over it.
We got the correct ballots in Bethlehem Twp
Bernie, You forgot to add the word cheat at the end. I have receipts below. Need more let me know
"I ve been an ardent advocate of mail-in ballots (MIBs). They make it easier for people to vote and "
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/us/politics/as-more-vote-by-mail-faulty-ballots-could-impact-elections.html
https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/callaway-gets-two-years-in-jail-for-ballot-fraud-scheme/
https://apnews.com/article/mail-ballot-fraud-voting-election-pennsylvania-48dd3f370aae579333cf848867d1ea3f
I do not believe that a hand canvass will answer the question whether an individual voter actually received the correct ballot. The outer envelope is reviewed, but the ballot itself is not checked to ensure that it is correct. If I am wrong, and I don't think I am, please explain.
I do not know how that can be determined without violating voter privacy. It's true that only one voter in one district has definitely received the wrong ballot but how many wrong ballots did this voter tech send out? When was the request made by the voter who received the wrong ballot? Did he do so recently or was he part of the original wave of voters? If the former, it is probably a fluke. If the latter, it is very possible that several voters received the wrong ballot.
This is a problem and I hope there is a way of ascertaining that this is an isolated incident and not more widespread in Easton District 2. These are small races and a handful of votes can make a big difference. This is probably more of a problem for Julie Zando than it is for Sharbel bc Dems tend to use MIBs. If voters in her district are getting ballots for the south side race, which is uncontested, this can hurt her as much or more than it hurts Sharbel.
The same issue occurred last year. Multiple voters from Walnutport Borough received Williams Township ballots.
Unfortunately, the only remedy for this kind of error is for the affected voter to show up to the election office with an ID. It is less than ideal to be sure.
Mechanisms to determine the scope of the error are limited. The complexity of the judicial process and the very short window of time in which an election challenge can be raised means that judicial remedy is effectively out of reach for many local candidates unless they can afford representation.
I can't wait for this idiots term to be over- he's turned into John Brown!
Another election and another election without integrity in NorCo. The system is designed to enable cheating. NorCo has to be one of the most purposely compromised counties in the state. Those who watched this bellwether county go for Trump a year ago are desperately trying to keep their finger in the dike, as the state moves from +1 million registered Ds to an even split. Shifty is as shifty does.
LOL any recent articles? Or article about those R’s that claimed elections are rigged yet they were the ones found guilty of defrauding elections??? lol
Voter I.D. and MIB for only the verified disabled is the only way to stop this nonsense.
Mail in ballots are made for cheaters Who said that?
The only sure way to correct such things is to eliminate the mail in ballots but we all know that its too convenient to keep the mail in's
Election day holiday with Voter I.D. only like every other Country wilk stop the nonsense. Our elections are out of control- we now have our phony Governor campaigning for Supreme Court Justices!
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