Law Firm Contracted To Lead Investigation Into Chester Co. Election

WEST CHESTER, PA — Chester County has contracted a local law firm to lead the investigation into the Election Day issue that left the names of some 75,000 third-party voters off of the poll books, requiring those voters to vote with provisional ballots.

The West Chester-based Fleck Eckert Klein McGarry was chosen from a number of candidates due to its knowledge of election-related legal issues and its history of complex investigations.

A written report summarizing findings will be returned to the county on Dec. 19. The Chester County Board of Elections will give a public presentation regarding to the investigation at some point in mid to late Jan. 2026.

An estimated 12,600 provisional ballots were cast on Election Day by those third party voters whose names were not listed in the books. That included a wide variety of Libertarian, Green Party, and Independent voters.

It remains unclear what may have caused the issue.

“We deeply regret the errors that occurred on and before Election Day, and through this review we commit to identifying the root causes of the problem and ensuring that it does not happen again," Chester County CEO Dave Byerman said in a statement.

The county said that the investigation will look into the root cause of the issue, the processes and controls that ensure poll book accuracy, how and why those controls failed, what factors prevented Voter Services staff from identifying the issues, and why supplemental poll books were not delivered to polling places in a more timely manner on Election Day.

The investigation will involve formal interviews with staff and thorough reviews of all materials.

Chester County had previously said that they did not expect the substantive portion of the investigation into the Election Day issues to occur until after the election had been reviewed. The county's Board of Elections recently adjudicated 1,400 ballots that had been set aside for further analysis.