Voting in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was extended to 10 p.m. Tuesday after poll books delivered to precincts didn’t include the names of unaffiliated, independent and third-party voters. It led to thousands of voters having to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day, according to the county’s voter services department.
The deadline for all mail-in ballots, including ones placed in drop boxes in Chester County, remained 8 p.m.
Chester County Voter Services identified an issue with the poll books just after polls opened at 7 a.m., Becky Brain, the public information officer for the county, said. The poll books didn’t include the names of unaffiliated and third-party voters, Brain said.
Brain said the voter services department rushed to deliver supplemental poll books to its 230 polling locations. The public information officer said all supplemental poll books were delivered to the county’s polling places as of 3:45 p.m. and all registered voters who wanted to vote in person Tuesday were able to do so, including those who used a provisional ballot.
“Chester County Voter Services will conduct a formal review to determine how third-party registered voters were omitted from the poll books and will take action to ensure this error does not occur again,” Brain said in a statement.
A provisional ballot is separate from a regular ballot and is typically cast at a polling place on Election Day when election workers need more time to determine a voter’s eligibility to vote. Voters can track provisional ballots online on Pennsylvania’s government website. Provisional ballets can take up to two weeks to be counted.
“If you have to vote by a provisional ballot and you’re a registered voter, your vote should be counted,” Lauren Cristella, president of Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan group that promotes fair elections and civic engagement across Pennsylvania about the voting issues, said. “You fill out that provisional ballot. Your judge of elections knows what that procedure is. You complete that provisional ballot, you should get a receipt and then follow up with the vote.pa.gov website and you can track your vote.”
Chester County has 230 polling locations with 385,856 registered voters. Brain said the county has 75,076 third-party voters, which she says includes independents, libertarians and people with no affiliation and registered as non-partisan.
The issues led to voters in Chester County becoming concerned about whether their votes would be counted and when. One voter told CBS News Philadelphia that this is the first time he’s ever experienced something like this.
“Two of the people that were in the line behind turned around and walked out,” Robert Healy, a Chester County voter, said. “They didn’t have the time. Again, they were probably on their way to work. It was the first time in my adult life, and I’m 61 years old, that I’ve not had that opportunity, or at least it seemed to be somewhat taken away. The provisional ballot, I do plan on following up on it to make sure it goes through. Am I concerned it’s not going to count? 100%.”
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, several polling sites received bomb threats early Tuesday morning. Lt. Gov. Tahesa Way, who serves as New Jersey’s chief election official, says law enforcement investigated and determined “there are no credible threats at this time.”
Poll book issue raises concerns for voters
When Malvern resident Jeff Wagenmann showed up to his polling place Tuesday afternoon, he was met with confusion.
“They told me my name wasn’t in the roll book. I’ve lived here for 12 years — it’s been in there every year. Then they checked a secondary book — it wasn’t in there,” Wagenmann said.Â
Wagenmann and other voters who weren’t in the books received provisional ballots. He said things got chaotic when poll workers failed to pass out instruction sheets explaining how to fill out those ballots.
“They were trying to manually explain the instructions to us, and they were missing steps — such as they were required to sign that they witnessed this, and they weren’t signing them before we left,” Wagenmann said. “That’s why I’m back here this evening.”
Some voters who ran into the same issue said they witnessed others give up on the process.
“You had to make a choice: Do I want to fill out a provisional ballot or not,” voter Robert Healy said. “Two of the people that were in line behind me turned around and walked out, they didn’t have the time.”
Wagenmann said he did cast his ballot, but the experience left him wondering whether his vote will truly be counted.
“It makes me question the integrity of it,” he said.
Josh Sanders and
contributed to this report.
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