Following the news last week that Spanish-language instructions included in thousands of mailed ballots listed the wrong date for Election Day, several community leaders and advocacy organizations are calling on Berks County officials to give some voters more time to send in their ballots.
The group, which includes state Rep. Manuel Guzman, announced the request at a press conference this morning outside the county services center in downtown Reading, where the commissioners were meeting.
Melissa McCleery, a communications consultant with Make the Road Pennsylvania, said the county must agree to accept the ballots of those voters who received the erroneous information until the date listed on the instructions — Nov. 18. Otherwise, she said, the 2021 general election numbers cannot be trusted.
“Though Berks officials have taken some steps to inform voters of the Election Day deadline, they have not publicly released their plan for reaching the 17,000 impacted voters or made accommodations in light of their false information,” she said.
The commissioners said later at their meeting that they no legal authority to accept ballots beyond Nov. 2 at 8 p.m.
The commissioners took responsibility for the mistake last week after and said they are investigating why the error occurred in the Spanish-language version.
They do, however, know how the mistake was made.
The commissioners said the instructions were based on a template from the May 18 primary. They said the month was changed for the general election, but the day of the month was not.
They have since corrected the error on Spanish-language instructions that were sent out more recently and sent letters out to all 17,000 people who received the erroneous information. They have also been publicizing the correct information through various means.
This story will be updated.
Source: Berkshire mont
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