Westmoreland County probes cause for duplicate ballots

Westmoreland County elections officials said Saturday an investigation is underway to determine why some voters received duplicate ballots in the mail for the Nov. 3 election.

Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said officials started receiving reports this week that some voters received more than one ballot.

They do not believe the issue was related to errors made by the county or the private Ohio firm hired to print and send out those ballots.

“The files are being reviewed by the state,” Sebastiani said.

She said it is unclear how many voters received duplicate ballots but did not expect the issue to impact the final vote count next month.

Only one ballot for each registered voter will be counted. Voters should submit only one and discard any others received, Sebastiani said.

“The state has put in safeguards so only one ballot from every voter will be accepted,” Sebastiani said.

Westmoreland County last month hired Midwest Direct Presort Mailing to print and mail ballots to voters. The company came under fire this month over production issues that delayed tens of thousands of ballots from being mailed out to Westmoreland County voters as well as voters in about a dozen Ohio counties.

Allegheny County, which hired Midwest Direct, saw about 29,000 voters receive incorrect ballots, a problem that has been corrected, officials said.

Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli said last week that other Pennsylvania counties that did not hire Midwest Direct have experienced similar issues with duplicate ballots.

A spokesperson for Midwest Direct could not be reached for comment.

Officials in Allegheny County were unable to say if voters received multiple ballots, Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said.

Meanwhile, both Westmoreland and Allegheny counties are operating remote collection sites for completed mail-in ballots this weekend.

In Westmoreland County, voters submitted their ballots at locations in New Kensington, Monessen and at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe. A second day of collections at those locations will be held Nov. 1. On Sunday, and again Oct. 31, drop boxes will be available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Westmoreland County Community College location in Murrysville and at the college’s main campus near Youngwood.

A dropoff box is available daily at the courthouse in Greensburg through the election.

Allegheny County operated its final weekend of remote drop box and satellite election offices Saturday and Sunday at North Park Ice Rink in Wexford, Community College of Allegheny County South campus in West Mifflin; Boyce Park Ski Lodge in Plum and CCAC Allegheny Campus on the North Side in Pittsburgh.

Voters said they appreciated the regional collections.

“I just don’t want to stay in line on the Election Day,” said Mike Lukon, who along with his 11-year-old daughter, Ryanne, lined up in front of the terminal building Saturday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport to drop off his ballot.

Janice Caiarelli of Latrobe said, like many voters she knows, chose the new mail-in option this year.

“I’m concerned about the fact that the mail could be delivered late and possibly voter intimidation at the polls and wanted to make sure my ballot gets counted,” Caiarelli said.

Through Thursday, Westmoreland County officials reported more than 32,200 mail-in ballots have been submitted. The county confirmed that 70,500 voters applied for mail-in ballots and about 68,200 have been sent to voters. The deadline to apply for mail-in ballots is Oct. 27.

Allegheny County elections officials reported that as of Oct. 23, more than 395,000 mail-in ballot applications were approved and 242,564 completed ballots were returned.

As of Friday, some Westmoreland County voters said they still had not received their ballot.

“They kept saying it’s in the mail. I did not want to take the risk of waiting,” said Darryl Canady, who along with his wife, Jaleeta, waited in line Friday at the courthouse in Greensburg to vote. “It’s a very important election.”

Canady, pastor of the Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church in East Liberty, said he couldn’t rely on the mail system to get them their ballots on time given the concerns about the Trump administration’s handling of the U.S. Postal Service.

Donna Wetzel of Greensburg said she voted at the courthouse Friday because the ballot she had been waiting for since last month had yet to arrive. Wetzel said she had registered in the spring for the annual ballot.

“I wanted to vote in person to make sure,” her vote is counted, Wetzel said.