County Will Replace Its Misprinted Mail-In Ballots

NORRISTOWN PA – Replacement mail-in general election ballots are expected to be distributed this week (Oct. 4-8, 2021) to about 16,000 Montgomery County residents who earlier received incorrectly printed ballots considered unusable due to a vendor error. They’re printed on one side only.

County election officials were notified of the problem Friday (Oct. 1) and by Saturday (Oct. 2) both they and the vendor, NPC Inc. of Claysburg PA, were working on a solution. NPC CEO Chip Gallaher apologized for the misprints, which he attributed to a programming error. The company “immediately stopped production” of the ballots once the problem was discovered, he said.

Voters who receive a one-sided ballot in the mail should destroy it and accompanying envelopes, the county Voter Services Department announced. It will cancel the incorrectly issued ballot materials and re-issue new, two-sided ballots to those residents automatically, the department added. Recipients also will be notified of the error by e-mail, phone or mail, it said.

Once notified, Voter Services “began working with the Pennsylvania Department of State, taking the proper steps to cancel the incorrect ballots and issue replacements. We appreciate the patience of our voters while we re-issue corrected ballots,” Director of Elections Dori Sawyer said.

Any voter who originally applied to vote by mail, but chooses not to return their mail-in ballot, can vote in person. To do this, they can surrender their ballot and the envelope with the voter’s declaration at their polling location. If these ballot materials are not presented, the voter can vote using a provisional ballot.

Residents with questions can submit a request online, or call 610-278-3280.

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