Potentially thousands of requested mail ballots lost in Butler County, official says

[brooklynite]

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG — Potentially thousands of mail ballots requested by Butler County voters appear to be lost, a county official said Wednesday, and the U.S. Postal Service has been asked to immediately investigate what happened to them.

A USPS spokesperson, meanwhile, said the agency is “unaware of any significant delays or issues and is in regular contact with the Board of Election as we work to locate and deliver ballots as they are presented to us.”

As of Tuesday, Pennsylvania voters are no longer able to apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot.

Nearly 40,000 registered voters in the county requested mail ballots. So far, only 24% of them have been returned to the county, by far the lowest rate among the state’s 67 counties. The county with the next-lowest return rate, Fayette, has received 50% of requested ballots.

Read more: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2020/10/29/thousands-requested-mail-ballots-lost-butler-county-pennsylvania-election-2020/stories/202010290124

[winstars]

1. Does anyone have a clue to which way this county leans? Red, blue, purple?

[Lithos]

2. From the Wiki page

It looks to elect more Republicans than Democrats.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Butler_County,_Pennsylvania

[Jose Garcia]

4. Trump won the county 66%-29% in 2016

https://public.opendatasoft.com/explore/dataset/usa-2016-presidential-election-by-county/table/?disjunctive.state&q=butler+county

[DallasNE]

10. Unless There Is Only One Zip Code For The County

This doesn't mean much as a zip code could have a very different demographic than the County as a whole.

[3825-87867]

14. Yeah, and most of that 29%

was from the southwest corner where most commute to Pittsburgh and are actually exposed to Democratic Views by other people (not necessarily the media).

[3825-87867]

13. As someone who lives a few minutes south of Butler County

I can tell you 90% of Butler County, especially the affluent suburbs ( with one small exception in Southwest Butler County) and nearly all rural areas are Over-ripe Cherry Red, hopelessly under informed, apathetic to politics (or learning ANYTHING political) and so grandfathered in views of "Democrats Always Raise Taxes that's why you vote straight Republican", you couldn't convince the typical Butler Resident that Water was wet, the sky was up or the earth was round if any Republican politician denied those truisms. It's so ingrained as to be genetic.

Looking at a map of Butler county, it's so red that the color splashes over into neighboring counties to the north, east and west. And some of those make Butler County look as though it's a suburb of Blue NYC politically.

The only way it will become purple is when the older, rotting Cherries age enough to fall of the trees.

Of course, I could be wrong - but I'm not.

[DeminPennswoods]

16. Butler county is very red

Bulter county has 141k voters, 43k of whom are Dems and another 12.5k I/other, leaving over 78k Rs. I mean you only have to look at state rep Darryl Metcalfe to understand Butler county.

Fayette county, that also has an issue with absentee ballots, is also red.

[George II]

22. The Board of Commissioners are two republicans one Democrat.

[Cosmocat]

31. Both Red

nm

[Hoyt]

3. Maybe that's a good thing. Looks like less than 30% of county went for Clinton in 2016.

Actually, I support everyone voting whether for my candidate or not. But if there's gotta be a screwup, good county for it to happen.

[Iliyah]

5. Sounds like they are trying to set up for a US SC fight . .

[stillcool]

6. that'd be my guess...

they need to find who did the dirty deed. It can't be that hard.

[DeminPennswoods]

18. No, they are mailing new ballots,

advising voters who applied, but didn't get their ballot that they can vote in person by provisional ballot or if they get the new ballot in time, they can take it to the county election bureau. If a voter is disabled, they are having sheriff's deputies hand deliver new ballots.

Anyway, if they did sue in federal court, it would be to count late ballots, not discard them.

[KPN]

23. That was my thought immediately when I heard

it was largely a red county. What better way to call attention to/create an impression of “rigged election”?

[Illumination]

7. So much GOP cheating going on...They KNOW they're losing & they're so very desperate!...

[DallasNE]

8. Should Be Able to Narrow It Down

The County election office should have record keeping that shows who was mailed ballots by day mailed. They should then be able to see which days mailing has a lower return rate. They likely need to also do the analysis by zip code as there is likely only one zip code involved.

[ancianita]

30. The FBI and Sec of State can find where the bar coded envelopes were last scanned, as well.

Interview all mail handlers from there. Some clues, and someones will likely turn up. 40,000 is a lot to just 'lose' without a trace.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

9. Oct 14: Computer Glitch Leaves Butler County Residents Waiting For Mail-In Ballots Despite Applying

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. (KDKA) — There are concerns over mail-in ballots in Butler County.

KDKA has heard from numerous voters who said they haven’t received their ballot even though they were reportedly mailed out more than a month ago.

Leslie Osche, chair of the Butler County commissioners, told KDKA that there was a glitch in the SURE system, which is partially to blame. She assured county voters that everything is under control and the ballots are coming.
-------------
Commissioner Osche said the issue is widespread. She said someone at the state level entered the wrong information into the SURE system last Thursday, changing the ballot status for voters across Pennsylvania.

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/10/14/butler-county-mail-in-ballot-delays-computer-glitch/

That was two weeks ago. Is this related to the OP? Are Republicans in PA setting up a SCOTUS mess?

[DallasNE]

11. Yes, That Would Be A Computer Glitch

Status should normally change when a bar code is read. There can be a need for a manual override but that should require supervisor approval and be at the individual voter level, not at a group level. County specs should not have been set up to allow this type of event to happen as that would be bad design.

Also, there should be a log file on this activity so they should know every voter that had their status flipped and by whom and on what date. If not, then that is a different computer design glitch.

[LisaL]

21. Well I guess everything wasn't under control.

NT

[keithbvadu2]

12. Sabotage the PO. Sabotage the ballots. Sabotage voters' rights.

[Rebl2]

17. Exactly!

Hopefully they can just go to their polling place and vote.

[geretogo]

15. The fascists in the GOP is trying to narrow Biden's leed enough so their Black robbed fascist's can

install the dictator for another term .

[DeminPennswoods]

20. Butler is a red county

Last edited Thu Oct 29, 2020, 08:33 PM - Edit history (1)

So, no, no one is trying to narrow Biden's lead there.Dems make up roughly 1/3rd of Butler's currently registered voters.

[3825-87867]

26. Used to have a lot of friends in Butler

Not so many, now!

[LisaL]

19. Were they ever actually mailed?

Some printing companies bit off more than they could chew. It actually sounds to me like maybe the county didn't even mail some of the ballots and is now blaming USPS?

[yaesu]

24. I know what happened, DeJoy happened thats what. nt

[BlueWavePsych]

25. Looks like Drumpf suppressed mostly GOP votes.

Good job

Seriously though, it is not a laughing matter.
GOTV! Vote in-person or use the drop box.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. I literally just read the Philly Inquirer version of this story

about an hour ago.

There is also the case where several counties have determined that they don't have enough resources to start counting the mail-ins on election day and who planned to wait until the next day (e.g., Erie and Cumberland).

[MyOwnPeace]

28. Trust me, if it was "planned"..........

this is the "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight!"

Unless they had a "designated reader" to withhold Dem requests, they have potentially thrown away a BIG majority of tRump votes.
There are shrines here - rows of flags flowing over "tRump" signs, pick-ups boldly trailing 3 flags: USA - CSA (rebel) - tRump, and stands along the roadsides selling tRump EVERYTHING!!!!!

Hope this is another issue for them to wallow in tears over ("Oh, Lord, how could this happen to us?" )

[BlueWavePsych]

29. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA