University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg students Sadiki Raessa and Brionna Woodson were anxious to cast their first votes in a presidential election.
Raessa, 22, of Lancaster and Woodson, 21, of Philadelphia learned Tuesday their votes will not count.
Both were among the 39 voters whose provisional ballots were rejected by the Westmoreland County Elections Board.
“I registered on campus to vote, but I didn’t know what address I put,” said Raessa, a political science major. “I wasn’t disappointed. It was more like surprise because of the process. This is not what I expected. It should have been more clear.”
More than 1,300 provisional ballots were cast on Election Day in Westmoreland County. More than half were accepted and added to vote totals published on the county’s website. Another 122 ballots were challenged by the campaigns for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick. Hearings on those challenges were held Tuesday and will continue Wednesday morning.
McCormick, the Allegheny County businessman, has declared victory in the race to oust Casey, the three-term Democratic incumbent from Scranton. As of Tuesday afternoon, McCormick held a lead of about 33,000 votes as provisional and military ballots continue to be counted and added to statewide totals. Casey has not conceded.
Election Bureau Director Greg McCloskey said provisional ballot totals from Westmoreland County have been added to the state results as challenges continue. Those challenges were based on questions surrounding voter eligibility. Under state law, voters — such as Raessa and Woodson — who are registered in other counties are not permitted to vote in Westmoreland County, he said.
County officials previously rejected 271 provisional ballots.
The elections board Tuesday voted to accept and count ballots cast by 17 voters during the daylong hearing. Those accepted ballots, cast by registered voters, included those that involved missing secrecy envelopes and other information on documents filed with the ballots.
Commissioners said they struggled with the decision to reject ballots.
“The law says they can’t be counted, but this is hard. Unfortunately, the law is the law,” said Commissioner Doug Chew, one of two Republicans on the board.
Democratic Commissioner Ted Kopas also voted to reject ballots based on technical deficiencies and criticized state law that doesn’t allow ballots to count from registered Pennsylvania voters in federal and statewide races no matter the county in which they are cast.
“It’s shameful current Pennsylvania law doesn’t address this,” Kopas said.
Woodson, who moved across state for school and has lived in Westmoreland County for four years, said she was disheartened her vote this year will not count.
“It’s unfortunate. I think all college students who are not in the right place should be allowed to vote. This was an election where college students’ votes were most important, and it was especially important for college students to vote,” Woodson said.
