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In this file photo, Sean Parnell talks with the media after announcing his campaign against Conor Lamb for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district seat during the Allegheny County Republican Committee fall reception Oct. 30, 2019, at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown.
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GOP candidates, Allegheny County reach settlement in lawsuit over incorrect ballots

Jessie Wardarski / Post-Gazette

GOP candidates, Allegheny County reach settlement in lawsuit over incorrect ballots

Two Republican candidates for Congress and the Allegheny County Board of Elections filed a motion Sunday to settle a lawsuit filed by the candidates challenging the nearly 29,000 incorrect ballots that were sent to voters.

Republican candidates Sean Parnell and Luke Negron — who are seeking election to Pennsylvania’s 17th and 18th Congressional Districts, respectively — initially filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Oct. 16, asking for poll watchers to monitor voting at satellite election offices in Allegheny County. The lawsuit listed the defendants as the Allegheny County Board of Elections, county Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and county council members Sam DeMarco and Bethany Hallam.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan denied the request, stating that they failed to demonstrate they are likely to prevail or suffer irreparable injury without relief.

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But the judge had set a potential hearing for this week on the candidates’ challenge to the nearly 29,000 incorrect mail-in ballots sent to voters. An error by a contractor, Midwest Direct in Ohio, resulted in voters receiving the incorrect ballots, according to the county. As a result, the county had sent replacement ballots to the affected voters.

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However, both parties met over the weekend to discuss the issue and eventually reached an “amicable resolution” to handling those mail-in ballots. By Sunday both parties filed a consent motion and proposed consent order to settle the lawsuit, according to court documents.

According to the settlement, the Board of Elections will maintain its current practice of sorting, segregating and preserving the initial and corrected ballots of the affected voters and maintain its current practice of putting initial and corrected ballots within separately designated portions of the locked ballot room.

The Board of Elections also agreed it will not pre-canvass any of the initial ballots or corrected ballots until after the ballot acceptance deadline “to ensure that one ballot is counted per voter.”

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According to state legislators, the term “pre-canvass” means the inspection and opening of all envelopes containing official absentee ballots or mail-in ballots, the removal of such ballots from the envelopes and counting, the computing and tallying of the votes reflected on the ballots.

The term does not include the recording or publishing of the votes reflected on the ballots.

The Board of Elections will sort the ballots into three categories: voters returning only a corrected ballot, voters returning only an initial ballot, and voters returning both an initial and corrected ballot.

For voters who returned only an initial ballot, the Board of Elections states they will count only portions of the initial ballot for the public offices for which the individual would have been eligible to vote in his or her proper election district if the individual cast a vote in person.

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For voters who returned both an initial ballot and a corrected ballot, the corrected ballot will only be counted. The initial ballot would not be counted and remain unopened, segregated and securely stored.

The board also agrees to include the initial and corrected ballots in the pre-canvass and that all persons authorized may observe the pre-canvassing of these ballots in the same manner and extent as any other ballot pre-canvassed following the Pennsylvania Election Code.

In a press release, Mr. Parnell stated the settlement agreement was “an important accomplishment for the people of Allegheny County.”

“We are grateful that every vote will be properly counted in this critical election,” Mr. Parnell said. “It’s gratifying to be part of a real solution to resolve this ballot fiasco.”

On Monday, County Solicitor Andrew Szefi issued a statement: “These candidates sought to have poll watchers in offices and to challenge the ballots of over 28,000 innocent voters. They accomplished neither. Instead, they are now endorsing a process that was in place and transparently explained before they ever took us to court. We are pleased that this waste of time and resources is behind us and that we can get back to the important work of ensuring a safe and accurate election process for all voters in Allegheny County.”

In the afternoon, the judge signed the consent order and dismissed the case.

Lauren Lee: llee@post-gazette.com; @lauren_llee.

 

     

First Published: October 25, 2020, 11:53 p.m.

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In this file photo, Sean Parnell talks with the media after announcing his campaign against Conor Lamb for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district seat during the Allegheny County Republican Committee fall reception Oct. 30, 2019, at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown.  (Jessie Wardarski / Post-Gazette)
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