A Pennsylvania court has approved an extension of voting hours in Cambria County until 10 p.m. ET after a software malfunction disrupted the scanning of ballots. According to the court’s order, ballots submitted after 8 p.m. ET will be classified as provisional.
The Cambria County Board of Elections reported that a software issue in the county’s Electronic Voting System was discovered early Tuesday morning, preventing voters from scanning their ballots. The Office of County Commissioners reassured residents, stating, “This should not discourage voters from voting at their voting precincts,” and emphasized that “all votes will be counted.”
Located approximately 70 miles east of Pittsburgh, Cambria County’s election officials identified that the malfunction stemmed from a printing error. Scott Hunt, the county’s president commissioner and chair of the election board, explained that the electronic voting machines were unable to read ballots due to an incorrectly printed barcode.
Upon recognizing the issue, the county contacted its printing company in Pittsburgh to produce new ballots. County staff members are expected to pick up and distribute these reprinted ballots later today. For ballots that have already been cast but cannot be read by the machines, Hunt confirmed they will be hand-counted.