545 Scranton Republican ballots misprinted; county says vendor error, public asks for investigation

A printing error affected 545 Republican mail‑in ballots in Scranton’s primary, officials and residents told the Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners during public comment on May 7. County officials and the vendor acknowledged the mistake, and commissioners said corrected ballots were printed and mailed; members of the public urged an investigation and clearer outreach to voters.

Commissioner Chris Chermack attributed the problem to the ballot vendor and described the county’s response: “This was not a conspiracy ... it was a printer error acknowledged and owned by the vendor, Election Systems and Software, who has taken full responsibility,” he said. Chermack said corrected ballots were couriered and mailed, the old ballots were deactivated, and the county will count corrected Scranton Republican mail‑in ballots separately for transparency.

Residents at the meeting pressed for further action. Care Francis, who has raised election‑administration concerns previously, said she is “against the drop boxes” and called for the county to restore public comment on the county’s social media channels and to answer two outstanding Right‑to‑Know requests she filed in November about ballots and related surveillance. “I am against the drop boxes, and now I’m even more passionate about my disdain for the no excuse mail in ballots after this past week’s debacle,” Francis said.

Suzanne Green, who reviewed reports from other jurisdictions with misprinted ballots, said the county’s problem resembles printing errors elsewhere and urged a public report explaining exactly how the error occurred and what procedural changes will prevent a recurrence. Another commenter, identified as “Jo,” urged a public forum and called for Tyler Technologies and county officials to answer questions about property reassessment work in the same session.

County elections staff and the commissioners said they had no reason to suspect fraud and defended the elections bureau’s response. Commissioners suggested voters worried about whether their mail‑in ballot was accepted could vote in person or submit provisional ballots at polling places.

What’s next: Commissioners said safeguards will be implemented and elections staff would review procedures with the vendor. Several public speakers asked the county to investigate whether similar printing errors have occurred in other jurisdictions and to publish a public accounting of the incident.