Washington County officials to notify voters of mail-in ballot errors via email, phone call

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — The Washington County Elections Board is talking about a new policy on how to handle absentee and mail-in ballots that have issues for the November election.

Channel 11 told you last week that the county must notify voters of errors on their ballots. We learned more than 250 ballots were disqualified in the primary election.

>>> Washington County Board of Elections to notify voters of any errors on mail-in ballots, judge rules

If there’s an error on your mail-in ballot, election officials are required to email or call you to notify you of the issue.

But, Washington County voters are not allowed to cure, or fix, their vote. Instead, they’ll be able to cast a provisional ballot on election day.

“Once they get the call and email the only option they have is to cast a provisional ballot on election day. They cannot come in and correct that ballot and some counties are still doing it that way. And until we get guidance from the Supreme Court or the legislature it’s going to be different throughout the state,” County Commissioner Larry Maggi said.

“we are waiting for the State Supreme Court to enter their ruling because when you think about it at the end of the day a county commissioner is not a legislator, we don’t make laws. We are looking to follow the law that exists on the books,” County Commissioner Nick Sherman said.

Leaders on both sides of the aisle in Washington County would like clear-cut guidance from the state Supreme Court, so all 67 Pennsylvania counties are on the same page with how to handle mail-in ballot mistakes. Right now, state law leaves that in the hands of county lawmakers. They’re hopeful to hear from State Supreme Court officials in the coming days.

Washington County is mailing out ballots on Oct. 7.

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