Apr 16, 2024 By Mike Jones 3 min read

Voters in Greene and Fayette counties are being given the opportunity to fix mistakes made with their mail-in or absentee ballots in this year’s election.

The elections boards in both counties have set up policies so voters are contacted if there are fatal flaws with either missing signatures or problems with the dates on the envelopes that would cause the ballots not to be counted in the April 23 primary.

In Fayette County, the elections office is mailing a letter to voters in order to notify them, and also calling or emailing the person if they included that contact information when applying for a mail-in ballot.

Greene County’s elections office is providing a daily list of information about defective mail-in ballots they’ve received to the local party committees, allowing them to contact the voters to make adjustments.

In both cases, mail-in ballots without signatures or problems with the dates on the envelope are segregated and won’t be counted unless a voter comes into the elections office in person to correct the error. Voters can also use a provisional ballot at their polling place if there is an issue with their mail-in.

As of Monday morning, Fayette County has sent out 7,444 mail-in ballots, with 5,657 going to Democrats and 1,787 being mailed to Republicans. So far, a little more than 4,000 have been returned with 49 of them being defective due to errors made by the voters.

“It’s not a whole lot. It’s a very small number,” Fayette County Elections Director MaryBeth Kuznik said about the number of defective ballots they’ve received. “I think the voters are getting more used to the (vote by mail) process.”

In Greene County, the elections office has sent out 1,829 mail-in and absentee ballots so far, with Democrats returning 687 of them and Republicans sending back 216 as of Monday. Greene County Elections Director Joe Lemley said his office has seen very few issues with defective mail-in ballots.

“We’re reaching out to the (party) committees involved,” Lemley said about their curing process. “They reach out to the elector to make them aware there is a concern and then it’s up to (the voter) to fix their ballot. We’re trying to take care of it here and now rather than down the road.”

The policies in Fayette and Greene counties to allow people to “cure” their ballots so they’re recorded run counter to the decision made last week by Washington County’s elections board in which voters will not be contacted if there are mistakes. Voters in Washington County whose ballots have fatal errors won’t know that their votes aren’t being counted since the only notification they are getting is an email from the state Department of State or a posting on its website that lists them as “received” by their location elections office.

Today is the final day voters can request a mail-in ballot. People can apply for a ballot by going online to www.vote.pa.gov or visiting their elections office to fill out an application in person. All mail-in ballots must be returned to the voter’s county elections office no later than 8 p.m. April 23.