Ballot printer put on notice

Commissioners prepared to end contract with Minnesota firm

Berks County election officials aren’t happy with the company contracted to print the county’s mail ballots, and they’re prepared to give them the ax if things don’t improve.

At Thursday’s election board meeting, the commissioners discussed the county’s contract with the Taylor Corp. The Minnesota-based printing company was hired by the county to print mail and provisional ballots for the 2021 primary and general elections.

The contract with Taylor runs through April 7 and the board is trying to decide if it should be extended for another year. Because the contract expires so close to the next primary, the decision needs to be made well before the expiration date.

Commissioners Chairman Christian Leinbach said the county has outlined several complaints regarding the performance of the company and that he is prepared to move on from them if changes aren’t made. His concerns include:

• Because Taylor is located outside Pennsylvania, there have been issues with the timeliness in which ballots have been delivered.

For the primary, the last batch of mail ballots printed by Taylor arrived close to Election Day. Per the contract, they were sent to the elections office and county staff had to deliver them to the post office.

For the general election, the county decided to not risk having late-arriving ballots. Instead, the county was forced to print the last batch of mail ballots itself.

The labor intensive process — ballots needed to be printed and folded, labels had to be printed and affixed on two envelopes per ballot and the envelopes had to be stuffed with the correct ballot and set of instructions — put strain on an already overworked staff.

• During the primary, the county ordered ballots from Taylor to be used in the election office for those wanting to cast mailed ballots on site, those who needed emergency ballots and as reissued ballots. The ballots arrived only a few days before the election and in no order, meaning staff were forced to sort through boxes to find the ballot from the precinct they needed.

• During the primary, the county received no verification from Taylor as to the number of ballots that were in each batch sent to voters. And, in some cases, there were ballots with incomplete addresses.

• During the primary, the county received little communication from Taylor as to when it mailed ballots.

In accordance with state guidelines, once an application for a ballot is processed it should be mailed within 48 hours. The county must then update voter information records to reflect the mailing — generating an email to let the voter know that their ballot is on the way.

The county often guessed as to when a batch was mailed or would be mailed, especially with the initial large file, which took days to complete.

• Taylor printed a QR code and a string of letters and numbers on the upper right corner of ballots and county officials never received a clear explanation of what they were for.

Instead, Taylor officials told the county it was an “industry standard” and all printers did this. The code caused confusion and questions from voters.

Acknowledging that time is of the essence, Leinbach made a motion to send Taylor a 30-day termination notification of the current contract.

He said that Taylor officials will be contacted and told of the county’s concerns, and that if they’re not adequately and immediately addressed, the termination will move forward and the county will move quickly to seek bids for a new printer for the primary.

If the issues are corrected the termination will be rescinded and the county will either extend the contract for a year or add an amendment that keeps Taylor onboard for at least the primary.

“I think that puts us in the strongest possible position to get these issues corrected,” Leinbach said.

The motion passed unanimously.

Made in Pa. wanted

The commissioners indicated that even if the contract with Taylor is extended or amended, the county does not necessarily plan on retaining that relationship for the long term.

They showed support for discussing the idea of soliciting bids after the primary for future mail ballot printing services.

Leinbach was adamant that the county should hire a Pennsylvania company to provide the service.

“Sending out mailed ballots to Berks County voters from Minnesota is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “I’ve stated that I do not support and will not vote for a printer again that is outside of Pennsylvania.”

That stance could run afoul of state law, which limits the flexibility counties have when awarding bids. The law requires counties to accept the lowest responsible bid.

That’s how Berks ended up with Taylor.

A company from Harrisburg was hired to print mail ballots for the 2020 general election, and the county was pleased with their services. But its bid for 2021 came in much higher than Taylor’s and the county was forced by the state’s procurement law to award Taylor the contract.

“We were disappointed we weren’t able to stick with that company because those ballots were coming from Harrisburg,” Donna Blatt, chief clerk in the elections office, said.

Leinbach said he’s willing to challenge the state statute in order to work with an instate company.

“And if the commonwealth or if a voter wants to sue us for not taking the lowest responsible bid, have at it,” he said. “I’m prepared to challenge the procurement law if Taylor is unwilling to address these concerns.”

Cutting it too close?

While the commissioners agreed to start the termination process, they didn’t do so without some trepidation.

Commissioner Michael Rivera said he had concerns about switching vendors so close to an election.

“I would like to work with the current printer at least for the primary, at the same time we are working on an invitation to bid process,” he said. “But I don’t think changing printers for the primary is in our best interest.”

Rivera said the only way he would support changing vendors is if the elections office could secure a contract with a vendor that it feels comfortable working with in time for the upcoming primary.

Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt said the county must hold Taylor accountable for the issues that were documented in previous elections. And, he noted, even if the company promises to address those issues this time around the board should reconvene after the primary to discuss its plan.

He said he would support paying another vendor more money if that would give the board and the voters more confidence in the electoral process.

Leinbach agreed. “This is not the place you squeeze pennies to save taxpayer money,” he said. “This is where you work to guarantee voter confidence in the process and the actions of Taylor hurt voter confidence in the last election.” Also at the meeting:

• The board voted against forwarding complaints alleging campaign finance infractions by three Gov. Mifflin School Board members to the district attorney’s office for investigation.

First Assistant County Solicitor Cody Kauffman received a letter pertaining to three school board members who won election in the fall. The letter claimed that Caryn Friedlander, James Ulrich and Michele O’Brien had filed campaign finance reports that had missing or incorrect information and asked that they not be seated.

Kauffman said the election office investigated the complaints and found that the issues alleged in the letter were valid, but had since been addressed by the candidates in amended reports.

The only outstanding issue is that Ulrich and O’Brien each listed an in-kind contribution made on Oct. 27 on the wrong kind of report. He explained that those contributions should have been filed as part of daily reports, but were instead included on post-election reports.

But because the information was filed, albeit on the wrong form, Kauffman said it’s clear the candidates were not intentionally attempting to skirt the law.

He suggested the board not involve the district attorney in the matter and instead simply request the candidates submit the right forms and pay the statutory fine associated with filing a late report.

The candidates will face the maximum $250 fine because of how late the reports will be submitted.

The board agreed with Kauffman, with both Leinbach and Barnhardt acknowledging that they had made similar errors on campaign finance reports during their tenures in office.

• The board approved moving the polling locations for two precincts, one in Caernarvon Township and one in Wernersville.

Caernarvon’s second precinct will move to Moving Communities in Christ at 4221 Main St. It had been located at Twin Valley High School.

Wernersville’s sole precinct will move to Wernersville Borough Hall at 111 N. Reber St. It had been located at Western Berks Fire Department.