Allegheny County Elections Board accepts provisional ballots missing 1 signature - TribLIVE

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Hundreds of challenged provisional ballots will be accepted, the Allegheny County Board of Elections decided during a hearing Saturday.

Most of the ballots, numbering an estimated 600, had been challenged because the voter had not signed in one of two boxes on the provisional ballot envelope, elections officials said.

County elections Director David Voye recommended the ballots be processed and opened for counting so long as one of the two signatures was present.

Russell Giancola and Shohin Vance, lawyers representing the state’s Republican Party, argued that the ballots should not be counted because of the missing signature. Giancola said the election code is clear that both are required and that the absence of one is a “fatal defect.”

Michael Healey and Kyle Semroc, representing Pennsylvania Democrats, argued that they should be counted so that voters are not disenfranchised over “technical defects.” Healey said a voter may not have signed in both locations at the direction of a poll worker.

While Giancola said they could only speculate as to why one of the two signatures were missing, Healey said there was no evidence of fraud or misconduct.

The three-member board, chaired by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, voted 2-1 to accept the ballots. Voting with Fitzgerald, a Democrat, was Democratic at-large county Councilwoman Bethany Hallam. Republican at-large Councilman Sam DeMarco III voted against.

Republicans have through Monday to appeal the board’s decisions to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Giancola could not say if the party would appeal; he said he would have to discuss it with his client.

The ballots will not be counted for at least two days after the hearing, at the earliest, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said.

The board voted unanimously to reject 13 provisional ballots that had no signatures.

The board also voted 2-1, with DeMarco voting against, to accept 14 provisional ballots from voters who had mailed mail-in or absentee ballots without the required inner secrecy envelope and cast provisional ballots on Election Day to fix the error. Officials said these voters had contacted the Elections Division and were told to vote provisionally.

Kevin Rea, of Edgeworth, was one of three voters whose ballots were challenged who addressed the board after it voted. He said he had voted provisionally after mailing his ballot without the secrecy envelope. Republicans challenged his ballot.

Dennis Meehan, of Baldwin Borough, said he voted provisionally after not getting a mail-in ballot. He said he had signed only one of the two boxes on the ballot envelope at the direction of a poll worker, who he said told him he was done after signing once. Democrats challenged his ballot.

Nicole Cascone, of Pittsburgh, said she threw away the mail-in ballot she received because she had moved and the ballot had wrong information on it. She said she voted in person and thought she signed the envelope in both locations, but didn’t know what she had done wrong to cause her ballot to be challenged by Democrats.

Members of the community organization One Pennsylvania were at the elections warehouse on the North Side for the hearing.

Wesley Gadsden, state field director, said the group found out Friday night that the provisional ballots were being challenged. They began reaching out to voters to let them know about the hearing and that their votes had been challenged.

“We’re standing here defending democracy and making sure that people’s voices are heard,” he said. “That’s what we’re doing and we’re not going to stop until every vote, every single last vote is counted.”

The Return Board is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. Monday at the County Office Building to complete its work, which will include comparing the numbered list of voters to return sheets to the number of election day ballots cast at the polls.

A court hearing on the challenge to the prior Board of Elections decision authorizing the count of mail-in ballots with complete declarations except for dates is scheduled for Tuesday.

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Brian at 724-226-4701, brittmeyer@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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Allegheny County Elections Board accepts provisional ballots missing 1 signature - TribLIVE

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