Lehigh County officials acknowledged a clerical error that resulted in some voters receiving incorrect or ineligible mail ballots for the May 2026 primary election, affecting approximately more than 4,000 residents across four categories.
The county discovered earlier this month that the initial batch of mail ballots was generated from the May 2025 active mail-in voter file instead of the current voter file, the county said in a statement issued late Tuesday.
While most ballots were unaffected, officials have moved to correct the mistake and contact impacted voters.
“This error is on us, and we own it. This was an honest and undeniably human mistake, and we are moving quickly to engage all affected voters,” Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel said in a statement. “Every eligible voter is going to get the chance to cast their ballot and ensure their voice is heard.”
The error affected four groups of voters. The largest category includes 4,175 people who requested mail ballots for the 2025 primary but did not request one for 2026. These voters have been contacted with voting options.
Another 286 voters who moved did not initially receive ballots at their current addresses and have now been sent correct ballots.
The county also mailed corrected ballots to 109 voters who changed their party registration in the past year.
Additionally, approximately 50 ballots were issued to voters who requested mail ballots in 2025 but have since died; those ballots have been canceled.
As of the latest update, 4,131 affected voters have returned mail ballots to be counted out of 4,442 total mail ballots returned countywide.
Chief Clerk of Elections Michael Paston emphasized that the vast majority of Lehigh County voters are not impacted. “We’re committed to providing regular updates so that everyone — from voters to members of the media — understand both how eligible residents can vote, and how we administer this election,” Paston said.
Earlier this month, after the county first alerted the public to the error, six members of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly issued a joint statement blaming Siegel, who is in the first year of his first term as county executive.
“At a time when the integrity of our elections is under constant attack from extremists who want to end vote-by-mail, the last thing we need to do is hand them more rhetorical ammunition courtesy of this careless error by our county leadership,” the joint statement said.
The Pennsylvania Department of State previously said it is working closely with the county on ensuring the primary, like previous elections, will be “free, fair, safe and secure.”
Siegel noted that Pennsylvania law includes safeguards to identify and reject ineligible ballots during the pre-canvass process.
Paston, who recently took over as clerk of elections after the March retirement of the county’s longtime clerk, said the county will conduct a full audit after the primary to determine how the error occurred and prevent future issues.
Voters who believe they may have been affected and have not been contacted can call the county’s dedicated voter hotline at 610-782-3194, which is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Election Day. Updated information is available at www.lehighcounty.org. The county plans to provide another update on May 13.