Officials disqualify 275 ballots because of various problems

MERCER, Pa. -- Elections officials announced Thursday that 275 Mercer County ballots had to be disqualified from the general election.
Of those, 205 in two Farrell precincts cannot be included in the official count because stubs were left on deposited ballots. The other 70 were random ballots throughout the county that were unusable for various reasons.
Dr. Thomas Rookey, director of Elections and Registration, said the 205 ballots were in Farrell precincts 1-2 and 2-2. The former votes at the Farrell City Building, 500 Roemer Blvd., and the latter votes at Prince of Peace, Providence Room, 502 Darr Ave. He said he obtained an order from Mercer County Common Pleas Court to include the ballots in the unofficial count. But he said he checked with the Pennsylvania Department of State and has been informed the statute prohibits them from being included in the official tally.
He added that if anyone thinks they lost an election because of these ballots, they can appeal to common pleas court.
Rookey said one of the workers involved told him she thought she had been instructed to give the voter the entire ballot, including a numbered portion that should have been retained at the polls. He said all the involved poll workers attended training before the election. In addition, he said there were detailed posters displayed at the precincts to assist voters. He added that he also gave poll workers two pages of directions.
But he added that before last May's primary election, it had been 40 years since paper ballots were used in Mercer County and he said it is not surprising that some errors have occurred.