The Pennsylvania Department of State will determine if any action needs to be taken as a result of a ballot error during Tuesday’s election.
According to Butler County Bureau of Elections Director Shari Brewer, ballots did not have the party designations of Democrat or Republican next to the names of the four candidates running in the two special elections- one for State Senator and the other for State Representative.
The error was discovered about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and was immediately reported to the PA Department of State, according to Brewer. The state department has not yet notified the county of any determination of action that needs to be taken. The candidate party affiliation was listed on the specimen ballot but that part was forgotten by the people actually entering the information into the voting machines.
Brewer believes this could have happened as a result of the special elections occurring during a primary election, which typically does not happen. In primary elections, the ballots typically don’t reference party affiliation because only candidates belonging to the registered party of the individual voter are displayed.