Pennsylvania\u2019s Chester County has reviewed more than two-thirds of the provisional ballots cast on Election Day, and confirmed that it has begun counting eligible ballots, though officials still cannot explain what caused a pollbook error that forced independent and third-party voters to use provisional ballots. <\/p>\n
County officials said they hope to have the answer by December, after an investigation by an outside firm.<\/p>\n
Pollbooks are the lists of registered voters that workers use to check in voters at the polling place. But pollbooks that Chester County distributed for Election Day omitted third-party and independent voters, forcing thousands of them to vote using provisional ballots. Provisional ballots require voters and election officials to take some additional steps, such as signing the envelope in the correct spot, or they will be rejected for technical reasons, and the ballots must undergo additional checks before they are counted.<\/p>\n
More than 12,100 Chester County voters cast provisional ballots in last Tuesday\u2019s election, more than in any other election in the county since at least 2016, according to state data. <\/p>\n
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As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, officials had reviewed more than 8,200 of the provisional ballots to confirm the voters\u2019 eligibility and to check that required fields on the envelope had been properly completed, county spokesperson Rebecca Brain said. The county began counting eligible provisional ballots Tuesday, and Brain said more than 7,200 had been fully counted, and some partially counted.<\/p>\n
Voters can track the status of their provisional ballot on the Department of State\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Investigation will look at root causes and county processes<\/p>\n The county said in a statement Monday that it would select an independent investigator by Nov. 17, and provide an update at the Nov. 21 board of elections meeting. It said it would aim to complete the investigation in early to mid-December and present results in December or January. <\/p>\n \u201cAs of today, we identified the key questions that must be addressed through the investigation and presented the Board of Elections with several options for how the review can best proceed,\u201d Chester County CEO David Byerman said in the statement.<\/p>\n Brain said the key questions include the root cause of the problem, as well as \u201cwhat processes and controls were in place\u201d to check the accuracy of the pollbooks, and \u201chow and why did those processes fail.\u201d<\/p>\n Others are also seeking answers. In an email to its members, the Republican Committee of Chester County asked those who served as poll workers to provide information including how many provisional ballots were used, how they were handled, and what assistance or instructions the county provided. <\/p>\n \u201cWe need accurate information from every precinct as to the County\u2019s total failure to conduct a fair and accurate election,\u201d the party said in the email, which was obtained by Votebeat and Spotlight PA.<\/p>\n County changed its initial instructions to poll workers<\/p>\n Robert Fedick, a judge of elections from East Whiteland Township who oversaw voting at a precinct, said he realized there was a problem early on Election Day, when his third voter of the day was unable to check in.<\/p>\n \u201cNext thing you know, I\u2019m calling Voter Services saying, \u2018What the heck?\u2019\u201d he recalled. \u201cIt was the hardest election I\u2019ve done in four years. Harder than the presidential.\u201d<\/p>\n Fedick said the county initially instructed him to handwrite voters\u2019 names in the pollbook and allow them to cast a regular ballot. But then, the county told workers to direct the voters to use provisional ballots. One of the county Republicans\u2019 questions to poll workers focuses on this point. Brain said questions about the county\u2019s guidance will be addressed in the county\u2019s investigation. <\/p>\n Fedick said he\u2019s worked with the county\u2019s elections director, Karen Barsoun, for years, and doesn\u2019t believe there was any intentional effort to leave voters out of the pollbook. <\/p>\n \u201cI would just like to know from the county what steps they are taking to make sure this doesn\u2019t happen again, and who didn\u2019t do their job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n John Young has been a poll worker since 2009, and was serving as the judge of elections in West Goshen Township on Election Day. He, too, said the problem surfaced shortly after polls opened. <\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as I asked two or three follow-up questions, I immediately knew what the problem was,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n He was unable to get through to county officials on the phone, but said the training, additional materials the county provided, and roving poll workers helped the workers at his voting site deal efficiently with the influx of provisional ballots. <\/p>\n