Ballot misprint affects some Allegheny County voters

An “isolated calibration issue” led to barcodes being printed on the wrong mail-in ballot envelope for some Allegheny County voters, officials said Thursday.

The printing issue resulted in a barcode that was supposed to be on the declaration envelope instead being printed on the secrecy envelope, said county spokeswoman Amie Downs.

Of the nearly 36,000 ballots returned so far, only 30 have had the misprint, Downs said. It was first spotted by a voter who noticed the barcode on the wrong envelope and sent photos to the county’s Elections Division. The vendor, NPC Inc. of Claysburg, indicated a calibration issue during to collation process led to the misprint.

Downs said the county law department and the elections solicitor are “preparing to pursue legal remedies” to make sure that the votes are counted “while at the same time preserving the privacy of the voter.”

The purpose of the barcode, which includes a nine-digit number and the voter’s name, is to track a voter’s ballot and give credit to the voter for having cast a vote in the election.

The 30 ballots – 29 that were flagged when they were returned and one belonging to the voter who alerted county officials – account for less than one-tenth of 1% of the ballots returned. The 29 that have already been returned have been segregated until a solution has been finalized, Downs said.

The same will happen with any other ballots returned without a barcode through Election Day on Nov. 2.

Anyone who discovers they have a misprinted ballot envelope can contact the Elections Division by phone at 412-350-4500 or in person to request a replacement secrecy envelope, officials said. They also have the option of going to their polling place on Election Day, surrendering their ballot packet and voting in person.