Delaware County has acknowledged that 670 flawed absentee ballots were mailed to voters on Oct. 25; the mailing addresses did not match the voter information on the ballot inside, causing some people to receive another person’s ballot. If the recipient didn’t catch the mistake, filled out, and returned the ballot, they might inadvertently prevent another voter from casting a vote.
The county said it had taken steps to identify those ballots and send new ones to the voters who received them.
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Michael Puppio, a lawyer representing Republican Delaware County Council candidates Frank Agovino and Joseph Lombardo, has requested an emergency hearing to assess how widespread the problem is, arguing the slip-ups have put “the integrity of the municipal election … at stake,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday.
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The county is trying to remedy the issue by identifying the flawed ballots and mailing out new ones, the newspaper reported.
According to the Inquirer, the lawsuit alleges ElectionIQ, the Akron-based vendor the county hired to deliver the ballots, hasn’t been “forthcoming … regarding the extent of their errors,” according to the Inquirer.
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“If an immediate hearing is not held to determine the extent… ” of the errors, “the validity of the municipal election on November 2, 2021, is in jeopardy,” reads the lawsuit.
Delaware County Director of Elections James P. Allen said the compromised ballots are easy to sequester and examine individually. He said the county was aware of the lawsuit and plans to respond.
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“We’re gonna clear up some misunderstandings that are in the lawsuit,” he insisted.
ElectionIQ, based in Akron, did not immediately return messages.
Ballots in Delaware County had already been delayed due to issues with the contractor, according to an Oct. 13 meeting of the election board. Ballots slated to go out in September were not sent out until Oct. 15, prompting some voters to complain about the short turnaround before the election.
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The lawsuit names the Republican candidates for County Council, Frank Agovino and Joseph Lombardo, as plaintiffs. Puppio said that’s because he knows and works with them and had to put the petition together quickly, but that he expects “all 45,000 voters who requested a mail-in [ballot] and every candidate on the ballot has a standing interest in this.”
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Council is the biggest local race in Delaware County on Tuesday. Voters statewide will also vote on Supreme, Superior Court, and Municipal Judges.
At a time when election integrity has increasingly come under attack — often baselessly — Puppio said his issue is not with Delaware County, and he’s not accusing anyone of wrongdoing. It’s the vendor he wants to hear from.
“This isn’t a partisan matter,” he conceded.
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