SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Pennsylvania's primary election is coming up, and officials are urging voters to stay on top of deadlines, especially with a ballot printing error affecting hundreds in Lackawanna County.
Between voter registration, mail-in ballots, and primary day itself, there are several important deadlines that are quickly approaching, and for some scranton republicans, a corrected ballot should be in the mail
The primary election is May 20, and Lackawanna County's election office is reminding voters to act now.
"The last day to register to vote is May 5, so we encourage voters, they can either go online and register to vote, they can come directly into the office and register to vote at the counter," Lackawanna County Director of Elections Beth Hopkins said.
Once you're registered, voters can apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot, something the office encourages voters not to delay.
"We don't like when you push up against the deadline, because then we have to get that ballot out in the mail to you, and you have to return it to us, it has to be in our office by election day," Hopkins added.
May 13 is the last day to submit an application for a mail-in ballot. Election day is on the 20th.
Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and all mail-in ballots must be received by county officials by the time the polls close.
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In Scranton, over 500 republican voters recently received the wrong mail-in ballot due to a printing error from a Nebraska-based company.
"They selected the wrong file. It was a human error on their part. We quickly got in touch with the printing company. They reprinted the ballots using the correct file," Hopkins added.
Voters are urged to throw out the original ballot and pay close attention to the color-coded label on the corrected one to ensure it's properly counted.
"Make sure they're utilizing the even the envelopes that they received with the corrected ballot that have a color-coded label on it, so it kind of identifies and jumps out at the voter to make sure they're using that because that old ballot label will not be scanned," Hopkins continued.
If you're unsure about your registration status or need help requesting a mail-in ballot, you can either call the election office directly at (570) 963-6737 or visit their website.
