A member of the Northampton County Election Commission is calling for better communication after an issue with mail-in ballots in the last election.
In his post-election report to the Northampton County Election Commission Tuesday night, Registrar Christopher Commini detailed the issue.
“We were made aware of a voter in Easton 8, District 2 that had received a ballot for Easton 10 West,” said Commini.
Commini said, after investigating the issue, he quickly learned it wasn’t just that voter. Commission Vice Chair Scott Hough said it ended up being dozens.
“We don’t exactly know how many it was, but we know it was up to 50,” said Hough.
Commini said it was simply a result of human error, and they quickly worked to fix it.
“An initial plan to contact each individual, by phone and email, was implemented. This was over a two-day period. We were able to contact some, others we left messages,” said Commini.
But while that work was going on, Hough said he had no idea there was even a problem.
“The way that I found out about it, and I had alerted the rest of the Commission, was I had read a blog post about a potential issue,” said Hough. “It took me actually going to the courthouse and meeting with the solicitor to find out the details, and then to hear that a plan had already been instituted.”
Hough said this isn’t the first time. Two years ago, the County had an issue where certain machines flipped votes on ballots. Hough said he wasn’t informed about that either.
Officials: Clerical error led to voting issue in Northampton County; McClure says election will be ‘fair, legal, and accurate’
“In 2023, when the machines had the malfunction, we found out about it because constituents were calling us, and we had to ask questions. We weren’t getting answers,” said Hough.
Hough said he hopes those answers come a little easier in the future.
“Whatever Commission comes in next, I hope they get cooperation, and I hope that there’s some better definition to what the role of the Commission is going to be,” said Hough.
We reached out to the County Wednesday, asking to speak with both County Executive Lamont McLure and Registrar Chris Commini, but neither were available for comment. Commini did say in the meeting Tuesday night the majority of the people who received incorrect ballots this year ended up being able to cast a ballot, either through the mail or in-person. The County has now made the results of the election official.