The Bucks County Board of Elections this morning voted to accept nearly 1,000 ballots outstanding from last week’s primary election.
During a public meeting Tuesday, the board ruled that Board of Elections staff should canvass the ballots and accept them so long as they do not have any disqualifying issues.
Included among the accepted ballots were 168 that arrived without a date and 12 bearing an out-of-range date. Those ballots will be counted and their vote totals segregated from the total count.
Another 60 ballots that arrived in unsealed secrecy envelopes also were accepted.
The board also voted to accept 338 ballots that had been segregated from the county’s official ballot drop boxes. Those ballots will be counted so long as they do not have any deficiencies
Board of Elections staff segregated the ballots from drop boxes after incidents in which voters placed one or more ballots in addition to their own inside a ballot drop box. In each instance, the staff member temporarily locked the drop box and segregated all ballots inside.
The Board of Elections also voted to fully accept 458 provisional ballots and to partially accept 21 provisional ballots.
The board opted to reject 326 mail-in/absentee ballots and 169 provisional ballots.
Mail-in/absentee ballots were rejected for the following deficiencies:
- 225 “naked” ballots that arrived not in a secrecy envelope
- 71 ballots with no signature
- 16 for miscellaneous issues
- 12 ballots with identifying marks on their secrecy envelopes
- 2 ballots not properly received
Board of Elections staff began processing the accepted ballots immediately following Tuesday’s meeting. Those ballots will be reflected later today in an update to the county’s unofficial election results page.
Overseas military, civilian and federal ballots must be received by 5 p.m. today. Those ballots also will be added this evening to unofficial vote totals.
Vote counts are unofficial until certified by the Board of Elections.
Media Contact: James O’Malley, 215-348-6414, jtomalley@buckscounty.org