More than 28,000 Allegheny County voters whose ballots were mailed on Sept. 28, received the wrong absentee or mail-in ballot, election officials announced Wednesday.
Allegheny County Elections Manager David Voye apologized for the error.
“Voters in the county should be confident that their votes are accurately counted and protected,” Voye said. “Our very system of government depends on free and fair elections and nothing underscores that more than a presidential election.”
The mailing by the county contractor, Midwest Direct, impacted 28,879 voters.
Allegheny County Department of Administrative Services Director Jerry Tyskiewicz said the vendor is being paid $1.16 per ballot.
While the scale of the error was detected Tuesday, voters began alerting county officials about the snafu on Friday.
New ballots are expected to be delivered to the U.S. Post Office beginning Thursday, Oct. 15 and most are expected to be received by voters the week of Oct. 19.
If a voter mistakenly voted on the wrong ballot and returned it, those ballots will be reviewed after the election.
Only one ballot per voter will be counted.
Voters can check the status of their ballot on the state’s tracker system, by clicking here. Impacted voters who do not receive a new ballot by Oct. 26 may contact or visit the Elections Division’s downtown office to receive a new ballot.
Nicole C. Brambila is the local government reporter for PublicSource. She can be reached at 412-515-0072 or nicole@publicsource.org.
