Tuesday’s primary election had a pretty sizable glitch in the Borough of Smethport — 10 hours into voting, the McKean County Elections Office still didn’t know if the ballot was correct.

The part in question was for Smethport Borough Council. Three candidates were running — two incumbents and one newcomer. The directions on the ballot said “Vote for one.”

Smethport residents thought it should read “Vote for four.”

The number of seats open in each election is reported by the municipality, explained London Parmelee, director of voter registration. Whether the ballot was correct was still under investigation. “I believe we were unable to get a hold of the (borough),” Parmelee said, adding they were going to keep trying.

District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer handles citizens’ concerns on the days of election. Her office maintains a special elections number during the primary and general elections to ensure a platform for citizen complaints about elections. The Era contacted her regarding the potential issue.

She confirmed that, “Chief County Detective Ryan Yingling did receive a call from a citizen early (Tuesday) morning reporting that, when they went to vote at the firehall in Smethport for a local office that they believe should have indicated they could vote for more than one candidate, their ballot said to only vote for one.

“The chief reported the citizen’s concern to the director of elections, who could verify the number of votes permitted for any given office and she confirmed she was already aware of the concern,” Shaffer said. “The chief then reported in person to the location and confirmed the wording on the ballot.”

Shaffer said that both the county Director of Elections Mary Hollebeke and Commissioner Tom Kreiner, who is on the Board of Elections, advised her that they have been in contact with their solicitor about the citizen’s concern. Hollebeke “indicated that, if they cannot certify the election results, a special election would be held. The director said the problem is with the ballot, not with the voting machine,” the prosecutor explained.

The Era contacted the Department of State, which referred calls to the county’s solicitor, Anthony Clarke. Messages sent to Clarke and the three commissioners — Kreiner, Carol Duffy and Marty Wilder — were not returned as of late Tuesday afternoon.

This isn’t the first time for such a ballot concern, Shaffer said.

“During the general election in 2023, a citizen brought forth a similar concern about the number of votes permitted for a particular office on an absentee ballot and the citizen was correct about the number of votes permitted in that case,” she said.

However, as of late afternoon Tuesday, Shaffer said, “I have not received confirmation from the commissioners, Board of Elections or director of elections as to whether they have, in fact, determined that the ballot was inaccurate in this case.”