Chester County officials promise to investigate poll book omissions, after they’ve finished counting the votes

The Chester County Board of Commissioners apologized to voters Wednesday after an error forced independent and third-party voters to cast provisional ballots through much of Election Day.

Speaking at their twice-monthly board meeting, Democratic Commissioners Josh Maxwell and Marian Moskowitz and Republican Commissioner Eric Roe promised to determine how the error was made and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“Know that we will look into this. We need to finish the election first,” Maxwell said.

Election officials in Chester County sent poll books to precincts that included only the names of registered Republicans and Democrats, omitting all other voters.

The error meant poll workers had no way to ensure voters not affiliated with a major party were eligible when they arrived to vote Tuesday morning. As a result, those voters cast provisional ballots until supplemental poll books were delivered to each precinct by around 3:45 in the afternoon.

Provisional ballots will be counted, but they are counted slower as election officials must first verify they were cast by an eligible voter who had not already voted.

The county left polling places open for an additional two hours Tuesday, allowing voters who arrived after 8 p.m. to cast provisional ballots. About 75,000 voters in Chester County are not registered with either party. The error likely affected far fewer people, as many voters had cast mail ballots and odd-year elections tend to have lower turnout.

To get through the day, Maxwell said, Philadelphia’s election office delivered a “truckload” of provisional ballots to the suburban county.

While some online have called for the resignation or firing of Chester County’s director of voting services, Karen Barsoum, Maxwell said discussions of personnel matters were premature.

“We have a lot of very good people who are very well-intentioned who set a very high standard for themselves,” Maxwell said, adding that the county had had to increase security for some staff members in response to online threats.

Roe and Moskowitz each thanked poll workers who managed a chaotic, and longer than normal, day at the polls.

County officials said they would work to better understand how the error occurred after they have finished tallying votes and certifying the election.

“We will be working on it,” Roe said. “We will get to the bottom of it. Accountability will come.”

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