PITTSBURGH — This weekend, tens of thousands of new, corrected ballots will arrive at the post office after almost 30,000 voters in Allegheny County got the wrong one.
There are new questions now about the company two local counties are using to handle mail-in ballots: a Trump 2020 flag flies in the wind outside the offices of Midwest Direct in Cleveland in a new photo obtained by The New York Times. The company is responsible for printing mail-in and absentee ballots in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is also responsible for the ballots in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.
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“It says Ward XX. That’s Oakland. Not where I live,” said Abby Miser.
Miser was one of the nearly 29,000 people in Allegheny County who got the wrong ballot.
“I immediately called the elections office and was on hold for about 20 minutes. I was the fourth person they talked to that day,” she said.
The county put the blame on Midwest Direct.
“This was a failure on the part of our contractor and affected too many of our voters and I apologize for that,” said Allegheny County Elections Division Manager David Voye.
There were also problems with 58,000 ballots not being sent on time to Westmoreland County.
The CEO of Midwest Direct defended how his company is handling the election so far.
“Our staff is working sixteen hours every day to make sure everyone who wants a ballot in the counties we are serving gets one in time to cast their vote,” said Richard Gebbie.
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As for the Trump 2020 flag outside the company headquarters, Gebbie told The New York Times the company is owned by he and his brother. They’re Trump supporters, but he said the company will make sure all voters have their voice heard.
“We know how important this election is to everyone in our country and we pledge to do everything our company can to make sure the mail-ballot process proceeds expediently,” Gebbie said.
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