Independent report: human error, SURE system gaps and training failures led to missing poll‑book entries
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Summary
An independent law‑firm investigation presented to the Chester County Board of Elections says a SURE export selection error — compounded by limited training, weak supervision and system design gaps — caused the omission of approximately 70,000 unaffiliated voters from poll books; the firm recommended system fixes, training, supervision and statutory housekeeping.
An independent investigation by Fleck, Eckert & Klein concluded the November poll‑book omission in Chester County resulted from human error amplified by system and process weaknesses.
“Bottom line is this appears to be a human error in clicking the wrong box for a general election,” said Sigmund Fleck during a presentation to the Chester County Board of Elections on Jan. 3. The firm said an operator selected a checkbox intended for primary‑only exports in the SURE (Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors) export process, producing poll books that excluded unaffiliated and minor‑party voters.
Investigator Andrew Eckert told the board the SURE system lacks confirmation screens or automatic validations, and that the Department of State and a vendor had to write new code the morning of the election to generate supplemental poll books. Eckert said the issue affected roughly 70,000 voters and that provisional ballots were used while the supplemental books were produced.
The report identified multiple contributing factors: informal, on‑the‑job training for staff who generated the poll books; inadequate direct supervision of the two employees who ran the export; tight statutory timelines for mail‑in ballot application processing that compress poll‑book production; and the county’s lapse in formally operating its statutorily established registration commission. The firm said these factors increased the risk that a single human error would have broad consequences.
Recommendations included: the Department of State modernize or at least add validation safeguards to the SURE interface; a mandatory, documented SURE training curriculum for county staff; dual‑signature approval and multilevel verification of poll‑book exports; routine supervisory spot checks when exported files are available; and formal documentation of registration‑commission delegations and reporting.
Fleck told the board the review found no evidence of intentional wrongdoing by county staff or Department of State employees, and that once the problem was identified county and state personnel worked to resolve it as quickly as possible.
The presentation ended with a call for technical, process and organizational changes to reduce the chance of recurrence and to strengthen public confidence.