Board of Elections rejects four ballots for missing ID, certifies preliminary results

At a public meeting on May 28 in Bellefonte, the Board of Elections voted unanimously to reject three mail-in ballots and one provisional ballot after officials said the voters failed to present required identification by the May 26, 2026, 5:00 PM deadline. The board also certified Part I of the preliminary election results and set a tentative final certification and SURE Portal signing for June 4, 2026.

Melanie Bailey, director of elections, told the board there were "not any overseas/Military ballots that were received by the deadline of May 26, 2026 by 5:00 PM." She said one provisional ballot in Precinct 77 and three mail-in ballots required identification to be presented by the deadline and that "none of the voters presented their identification, therefore they will be rejected." The board, on motions by Commissioner Steven Dershem and seconded by Commissioner Mark Higgins, voted unanimously on the ballot rejections and on certifying Part I of the preliminary results.

The board announced a tentative schedule for election-board and official-count-board meetings on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 2:00 PM at the Community Services Building Café, listing final signing, SURE Portal signing, and certification of official results on that date. Bailey said a 2% audit was performed the day before the meeting, that the audit "went well," and that it will be submitted to the State. She also noted that all write-in votes were posted on the county's website as of the previous day.

The board approved the minutes of its May 26, 2026 meeting by unanimous vote. The meeting was adjourned at 3:09 PM by unanimous vote.