Western PA Official Claims Postal Service Lost Mail-In Ballots

From the Pennsylvania Capital-Star:

By Stephen Caruso
October 28, 2020

*This developing story will be updated.

The U.S. Postal Service lost an unknown number of mail-in ballots in a western Pennsylvania county, a local official said Wednesday.

Aaron Sheasley, election director in Butler County, revealed the issue at a county commissioners meeting Wednesday, according to the Butler Eagle. The ballots were lost on their way to voters, according to Sheasley.

Local media has already reported problems with mail-in ballots in the county just north of Pittsburgh. Voters said they received notice that their ballot was in the mail, but hadn’t received it more than a week later.

According to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, County Commissioner Leslie Osche blamed a state-level data entry error for ballot delays, and “assured county voters that everything is under control and the ballots are coming.”

As of Wednesday, Butler County voters had returned just 24 percent of almost 40,000 requested mail-in ballots, according to the U.S. Elections Project by the University of Florida. The next lowest return rate was 49.6 percent in Fayette County.

This story was originally published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. For more stories from the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, visit PennCapital-Star.com.