Luzerne County contacts mail ballot voters required to supply identification

Luzerne County’s Election Bureau recently sent letters to approximately 200 primary election mail ballot voters informing them that identification must be furnished for their ballots to be counted, said county Election Director Emily Cook.

Mail ballot applications require voters to provide their Pennsylvania driver’s license or Pennsylvania Department of Transportation ID card number. If they do not have those, they must submit the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Cook said Monday the letters went to mail ballot applicants flagged during subsequent screening because the names and numbers they submitted did not match records from PennDOT or the Social Security Administration.

Based on voter responses to the letters so far, most mismatches stem from name changes, misspellings, and variations, she said.

For example, an identification number under the first name Anthony would be flagged if that voter applied for a mail ballot under Tony, Cook said. The use or lack of a space in a first name, such as Rosemary/Rose Mary, would be held up if it is not the same as it appears in that voter’s PennDOT or Social Security number, she said.

Identification verification is not new, but the county typically only formally contacts mail ballot voters with data mismatches after they return completed ballots, Cook said.

For Tuesday’s primary, the bureau decided to notify all affected voters in advance, earlier this month, to give them more time to remedy the situation if they intend to cast ballots, Cook said.

“We sent them all out ahead of time to be more proactive and help the voters,” Cook said of the letters.

Ballots have been rejected in past elections because voters did not present the required identification.

The letters instructed voters to visit the election bureau to provide a copy of their identification. As authorized by state law, the deadline to supply identification is May 26 — a week after Tuesday’s primary. Inquiries may be directed to elections@luzernecounty.org.

Returned ballots flagged for identification verification remain segregated and cannot be accepted unless voters present the required information before the deadline, Cook said.

Ballots from those providing verification in the week after the election would be processed during the county’s post-election adjudication.

County Election Board Vice Chairman Rick Morelli said Monday he sought an explanation on the matter because he has received phone calls from multiple letter recipients questioning the reason, including many long-time voters in the area.

Cook said Monday she would have to analyze the data after the election to determine if the number of mismatches is higher than usual and assess the reasons.

In addition to the letters, the county Election Board supplies party representatives with lists of voters who have identification verification issues and other ballot deficiencies, so they can contact the voters — a process known as curing — if the voters want to remedy them.

This same identification information — the last four Social Security digits or driver’s license/PennDOT identification — is required on voter registration applications.

The Pennsylvania Department of State reminded new voters — or those voting for the first time in a new precinct — that they must show identification in Tuesday’s election. Acceptable options include both photo and non-photo identification. A detailed explanation is available at www.pa.gov.