Montgomery County discloses print error on 16,000 mail-in ballots

New ballots to be Issued by vendor

NORRISTOWN » Montgomery County election officials were notified Friday night that approximately 16,000 general election mail-in ballots were printed incorrectly by its ballot vendor, NPC, and mailed to residents. These ballots are easily identified as they were only printed on one side.

“We sincerely regret that this happened and are working with the county and state to ensure impacted voters receive a new ballot,” said Chip Gallaher, CEO of NPC. “Once the error was recognized, we immediately stopped production and began to investigate. Our investigation determined that a programming error caused the back page of the ballot to be omitted.”

Voters who receive a onesided ballot in the mail should destroy the ballot and envelopes.

Montgomery County Voter Services will cancel the incorrectly issued ballot materials and re-issue new, two-sided ballots to these residents automatically. These residents will be notified either by email, phone or mail. Re-issued ballots are expected to be mailed next week.

“This does not meet the standard we have come to expect from NPC,” said Director of Elections Dori Sawyer. “Upon notification of the error, we began working with the 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.”

As always, any voter who originally applied to vote by mail but chooses not to return their mail-in ballot can vote in person, Sawyer said. 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.

Sample ballots are available to view on the Montgomery County Voter Services website at https:// webapp02.montcopa.org/ voterservices/sampleballots/.

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