SMETHPORT — The good news is all the McKean County mail-in ballots have been mailed out to voters for the upcoming general election. The bad news is there’s a glaring error in the biggest local race on the ballot.
Under the county commissioners’ race, the directions say “Vote for three.” Correctly, it should say “Vote for two.”
“Someone alerted me over the weekend,” said District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer. “I notified the commissioners, the board of elections and the county solicitor Anthony Clarke.”
Although this is not under the purview of the district attorney, because a voter had notified Shaffer, she looked into the matter and notified the proper authorities.
On the ballot are four candidates — Democrats Mary Ann Wilder and James M. Hilyer and Republicans Carol Duffy and Thomas Kreiner. There are three seats up for election, but in the race for commissioner, voters select only two candidates.
So what happened?
“Human error,” said Cliff Lane, outgoing McKean County commissioner, who serves on the board of elections. “At this point, I just want to correct it.”
The director of elections for the county, Brett Perry, is new to the office since the May primary. The director of voter registration, Linda Frey, is relatively new as well.
Lane said that Perry had informed the Department of State, and the county was working with the state on how to rectify the problem.
Some ballots have already been turned in. Lane said the Board of Elections is committed to making sure everyone’s vote will count. Another ballot will be sent out with instructions on how mail-in and absentee voters should proceed.
“We’re in the process of getting new ballots printed and sent,” he said. “We do want people to know there will be a letter to go out with the absentee and mail-in ballots to instruct them what they are to do.”
So to McKean County residents who have mail-in or absentee ballots, please wait before voting, Lane urged.
“If they have not sent them in yet, hold off,” he explained. “If they have, we will also be instructing them on that when we do send out the ballots.”
The ballots for election day have been corrected.
Lane said they are “all hands on deck” to work on the solution, and people who still have questions may call the elections office at (814) 887-3203.
The new ballot will be sent out as soon as possible, Lane said.
