By the numbers: Small ballot errors, county security procedures led to Election Day mishap

EBENSBURG – Set between blocks of computer "timing" code, seven tiny numbers line the left-hand margin of the Election Day ballots that Cambria County eventually started scanning to add up results Nov. 5.

They were identical to the precinct "test ballots" the county tested in early October, Cambria County Solicitor Ron Repak Jr. said.

The ones that failed to scan Election Day morning were missing those numbers, an examination of both types of blank ballots by The Tribune-Democrat showed.

Cambria County officials acknowledged their own security procedure likely prevented the issue from being flagged sooner.

After running their test ballots through the scanning machines in early October, election officials sealed up the electronic scanning devices to prevent anyone from tampering with the machines. The official Election Day ballots that arrived afterward – believed to be identical – sat untested in the weeks prior to Nov. 5, Repak and Cambria County President Commissioner Scott Hunt said.

"We followed the same process that the county had been following for years," Hunt said during an interview Thursday. "The test ballots were tested and worked properly prior to giving approval for our printer to proceed (with creating the Election Day ballots)."

Those ballots were also double- checked for spelling errors and other mistakes during the "log and accuracy" process, said Hunt.

Almost identical "mail-in" ballots – which must begin reaching Cambria County voters' mailboxes well in advance of Election Day – also were tested and passed as scannable by the county's ballot-counting machines when the tests occurred, Hunt and Repak said.

Hunt, who has been in office for five election cycles, said the county never had an issue getting Election Day ballots to scan prior to last week – which is what made diagnosing the problem so troublesome as reports of issues began reaching the courthouse from 125 voting precincts the morning of Nov. 5.

The issue made national headlines and has drawn criticism from some county residents.

The county ended up temporarily using lock boxes at each precinct to store voters' completed ballots that morning. County deputies were sent to the Pittsburgh area to pick up several new batches of ballots from William Penn Printing, the county's ballot vendor.

This time, officials made sure the approximately 15-inch-long ballots had the numbered code that was missing from the original, unscannable Election Day ballots, Hunt said.

Cambria County Elections Director Maryann Dillon said the series of blocks and numbers are a series of "timing marks" embedded into ballots. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Brennan Center for Justice, those marks are a security measure that show scanners precisely where to read votes on a ballot and make it harder for people to reproduce fakes.

Cost for extra ballots unsettled

Hunt said the county's relationship with William Penn Printing dates back decades.

Tribune-Democrat archives show the company has been providing ballots for the county the entire time period it has been using voter-verifiable paper ballots.

That switch to ballots and ES&S Voting machines scanners was approved in May 2019.

Hunt said he was not aware of previous issues and that the company acted quickly to print out usable ballots as soon as they were notified Nov. 5.

Initial ballot orders and election materials were paid through a state Elections Integrity Grant, he said.

It's too soon to speculate whether the county will have to pay any extra costs for ordering approximately 40,000 more Election Day ballots to rectify the issue, Hunt said.

But he and Repak said what's clear is that the county will look for ways – and procedural changes that can be made – to ensure the issue is never repeated.

Repak described the matter as a "systemic error" the county can aim to avoid repeating with adapted testing safeguards.

But he said the county already recognizes that there's ways they can learn from last week's "chaos."

Repak said a notification alert system that would enable poll workers across all 125 precincts to be alerted – in mass and at once – will be implemented to quickly inform workers anytime Election Day changes are needed.

"That's a number one priority," he said.