Top Stories

County releases tool to see if you’re among nearly 29,000 voters who got wrong ballots

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — New ballots are being sent out after 28,879 voters in Allegheny County received incorrect ones, and there’s now a tool to see if you’re one those people.

You can use the new tool on the county’s election website. Voters will simply have to put their name in and it will let you know if you’re getting a new ballot in the mail.

Elections Division officials said that mailing of the new, corrected ballots will be completed by Oct. 17, with most being delivered the week of Oct. 19. The issue was the result of a ballot image mapping error by Midwest Direct, the company contracted to handle the printing, collating and mailing of ballots, officials said.

If you want to receive Allegheny County news alerts, please download our WPXI News App. You can also follow WPXI on Facebook and Twitter.

“The mailing by Midwest Direct is from a batch of 32,318 voters whose date of mailing shows in the state ballot tracker as September 28, 2020. There were no issues with the county data, but a ballot image mapping error by Midwest resulted in individual voter’s information being matched to the ballot for the next voter in that batch,” a news release said.

The corrected, re-issued ballots will be identified on the envelopes voters receive. The declaration envelopes will also have identification to indicate they’re the envelopes that should be used to return the corrected ballots.

Only one ballot will be counted for each voter, officials said.

Voters can use the state’s online ballot tracker to look up when their ballot was mailed. It can be found in the column “Ballot Mailed On.” If the date is 09/28/2020, you may have received an incorrect ballot.

The Attorney General’s Office provided the following information to inform voters about mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day:

What if I requested a mail-in ballot but now I want to vote in person?

If you receive a mail-in ballot and would prefer to vote in person, make sure you take your mail-in ballot to your polling location. Poll workers must void your mail-in ballot and you will then be allowed to vote at the polling location.

What if I received a ballot for a former resident or tenant at my address?

Mail-in ballots are barcoded for the individual whose name and address appear on the outer envelope. To report a ballot that came to you accidentally or isn’t meant for you or anyone in your household, please contact your County Election Officials.

What if my mail-in ballot comes damaged or gets wet during transit?

As long as the ballot, secrecy envelope, and outer mailing envelope are intact and envelopes are able to be safely sealed, you should proceed with voting. If your ballot is damaged beyond use, you can bring it to your polling place on Election Day to be voided and vote in person or, you can request a new mail-in ballot by contacting your County Election Officials.