At state’s urging, Luzerne County notifying mail voters with outer envelope defects

For the first time, Luzerne County’s Election Bureau is attempting to notify voters before Election Day if their mail ballots have outer envelope defects preventing them from being accepted.

Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman publicly issued a release Friday saying county election offices are encouraged to contact voters whose Nov. 8 general election ballots have been cancelled due to outer envelope errors so the voters may have the opportunity to have their vote count.

After reviewing the new state guidance with the county law office, the bureau sent alerts Friday to voters with ballots missing required outer envelope signatures, said Acting County Election Director Beth McBride.

These notices went to voters who had email addresses on file, she said.

The bureau will attempt to phone voters without email addresses on Monday, she said.

Following state guidance, the defective ballots had to be cancelled in the state’s ballot tracking system to proceed with the alerts, McBride said.

Impacted voters have the option to appear at the county’s Penn Place building between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday, McBride said. The bureau will set up a table in the first-floor Penn Place lobby during this period to assist with reissuing new ballots to correct the defect, she said.

Penn Place is at 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Wilkes-Barre, and the bureau office is on the second floor.

Voters who were notified of deficiencies and are unable to visit Penn Place Monday will have the option to cast a provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day, she said.

Date issues

The other most common outer envelope defect involves ballots without dates or with dates that fall outside the period in which ballots were issued and Nov. 8. The county started mailing ballots on Oct. 13.

McBride said the bureau will send alerts Monday to voters with no dates or dates out of range. Attempts also will be made to phone these voters, she said.

These voters will have the option to appear at Penn Place before 4 p.m. Monday or cast a provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day, she said.

The bureau has early knowledge of which ballots have outer envelope defects because it is using a new ballot sorting machine, McBride said.

Previously, teams of workers started reviewing the outer envelopes and weeding out those with defects on Election Day.

The county purchased the sorting machine with a new state election integrity grant aimed at ensuring unofficial mail ballot results are tallied on election night.

McBride said the bureau will provide information on all voters with unresolved outer envelope defects to the county Election Board, which will continue compiling lists of defects on Election Day. In turn, the board submits the information to political party leaders on Election Day so they can attempt to reach those voters.

If pre-election notices to voters with outer envelope defects becomes standard practice, the bureau will look at a plan to ensure it reaches as many voters as possible in future elections, McBride said.

As a reminder to those casting provisional ballots at the polls, the ballots must be placed in a secrecy envelope, which is then inserted in an outer envelope. Three signatures — two from the voter and one from the judge of elections — are required on the outer envelope for the vote to count. Provisional ballots are reviewed last so the county can verify a mail ballot was not also received from that voter.