At yesterday's meeting of NorCo's Elections Commission, Registrar Chris Commini acknowledged that human error still exists with mail-in ballots (MIBs) resulting in the wrong ballots neing sent to voters. But unlike last year, the elections office caught the error itself. He also reported on a less than stellar turnout at a pop-up voting event at NorCo Community College.
Northampton County's Election Comm'n is charged under both the Home Rule Charter and state law with the administration of elections, but in practice, the Executive has made decisions that should be in their wheelhouse, even to the point of selecting the Voting Registrar. This has led to controversy in the past, but yesterday's meeting was focused on the upcoming primary.
It is a five-member body consisting of three members of the majority and two members of the minority parties. The Democratic members are Chair Sharon Gavin-Levy, Becky <strike>Bradley</strike> Bartlett and Richard Groff. Republican members are Scott Hough and Shawn Welch.
Pop-Up Voting. - Commini told the Board that there were just three voters at the pop-up voting event held at Northampton Community College. Not many popped up. The turnout was better at Lafayette College, where 31 people obtained a ballot-by-demand. Two more pop-up events are scheduled in Upper Mount Bethel (last night) and at Lower Saucon Tp's Municipal Bldg (9am-12pm on Friday).
Ballots on-demand. So far, 44 voters have sought ballots-on demand.
Mail-in Ballots. - 24,494 ballots were mailed on the 1st day. As of yesterday, an additional 1,232 MIBs have been sent.
Elections Office Errors. If something can go wrong, it will. There is no exception to Murphy's Law, even when it comes to elections in an office that is now charged with conducting four elections (MIBs, in-person, ballot-on-demand and pop-up voting)
According to Commini, some voters received an incorrect party ballot. On top of this, some voters received a duplicate ballot package due to labeling. "I just want to point out that the voters have been instructed to destroy one of those packets, and the machine we have in place does not allow them to submit both ballots." Finally, one precinct initially received incorrect ballots. This error was identified and all affected voters were contacted directly and provided with the correct ballot. Commini said he was aware who was responsible for this mistakes and tht the matter is being handled internally.
Way worse error happening in Lehigh county
ReplyDeleteThat makes me feel so much better…
DeleteWho is responsible for this show of clowns. Last time there was a screw up......heads rolled. Remember Dertinger taking the blame and getting fired by McClure? The law is very clear. The Election Commission hires and fires their employees, not The Administration. Doesn't anyone bother to read the laws?
ReplyDeleteHe got axed for Cozze’s incompetence.
DeleteHe got axed cause McClueless needed a scapegoat. What kind of man is willing to throw a supposedly good friend under the bus ? Someone who only uses people until they aren’t needed.
DeleteIf Cozze was actually qualified he might still have a job.
DeleteDespite what many want us to believe, flooding this nation with mail-in ballots, some jurisdictions not keeping voter eligibility rolls up-to-date, and extending Election Day into Election MONTH has been troublesome in many places.
ReplyDeleteAll these dramatic changes have resulted in citizen loss of confidence in the validity of final election results. When winners are often determined by just a couple hundred votes it’s easy to understand why we continue to hear “This, or that, political party cheats in their elections.”
Reality is there is cheating. Don't trust any party.
DeleteThey'll blow it, it's in their DNA
ReplyDeleteStop wasting taxpayer money on useless "pop-up" nonsense. What are we, fifth graders? Good grief. Theses are the dumbest times in human history.
ReplyDeleteCommini stating that the person responsible for these mistakes is being delt with internally is not a good enough explanation. Full disclosure is what is required. Public disclosure of what happened is necessary to ensure the public that this won't happen again. Didn't McClure fire someone for the screw up with this same office during his first term of office? full disclosure please.
ReplyDelete"being handled internally" is simply another way of saying "COVERUP".
ReplyDeleteAll recipes for cheating, but wasn’t that always the point?
ReplyDeleteThere is NO question, expanding mail-in voting to what it is now has GREATLY increased the amount of ways to cheat. Unfortunately, in today’s America, lying cheating, and failing to take personal responsibility are at epidemic levels.
DeleteI'll tell you Bernie, the bureaucrats are making a great case for eliminating mail in ballots.
ReplyDeleteI have used them since Covid, love the convenience. But vote integrity is more important, and most voters have no trust in what politicians say. For example, if a politician says, "Yes we had some problems but it was a small number and everything is fine." what I hear is "Boy we had a doozie but we'll keep the truth under wraps because God forbid we be held accountable for the Ponzi scheme we're running here."
That's a horrible place to be, but Congress' approval rating is under 10% and local #s are dropping as well. That's telling.
Democracy should not be based on the perception of “convenience”.
ReplyDeleteThis 100X. It's not about convenience. It's about cheating.
DeleteFor how "important" voting is the Government sure does play fast and loose with errors.
ReplyDeleteJeff Ward
Bethlehem
Grow up.
DeleteIt's not a bug. It's a critical feature.
DeleteAnother election disaster and associated cover up. This is a dog bites man story. NorCo voters expect this incompetence and corruption.
ReplyDeleteTime to talk about Gracedale again, Bernie, or the Dixie Cup mess.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the elections office should get Build-a-Bear to sponsor the pop-ups and county dropboxes and other initiatives that make our elections fraud-proof. A catchy slogan can be affixed to the dropboxes: "Sponsored by Build-a-Bear, where you do the stuffing."
ReplyDeleteIt seems that when we had paper ballots, pencils, and paper there were far fewer concerns, and a lot less money wasted. Maybe we should consider not trying to allow technology and electronics to handle one of our most important rights.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: Rebecca Bartlett is a member of the commission not Becky Bradley
ReplyDelete10:54, My apologies. For some reason, I always do that! Sorry to both Beckys.
DeleteWhat geniuses planned pop-up voting activities at two college campuses in the last week or two of classes before final exams? Is anyone surprised at the turnout?
ReplyDeleteLet’s just hope the voting machines are cleaned, desensitized, polished, and programmed so they are up to the task this year. We have a different set of variables in play with this administration.
ReplyDeleteMaybe there will be a poll notebook to record names , times, dates, and any event that causes
Discomfort to voters while voting.
Would hope that what happened in the Elections from the past won’t happen again. Hopefully Zrinski won’t take a Mclure play and blame others when things go south. Would be nice to find out the truth.
ReplyDelete