ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A Lehigh Valley state Senate primary finally has a winner, now that a mail-in ballot lawsuit is settled.
Tara Zrinski conceded to Nick Miller in the Democratic primary race for the 14th District. Only 40 votes separated them.
Zrinski conceded after it became clear a lawsuit to count 260 improperly submitted mail-in ballots would not save her campaign.
Attorney Matthew Mobilio, who filed the suit, said his clients have reached a settlement with the Lehigh and Northampton County elections boards, and said the case is still a win for voters because the counties will change the way they validate votes moving forward.
“Today we secured a huge victory for the voters of Lehigh and Northampton County. While the results of the May election will not be affected by this settlement, these new measures will help protect future elections from being called into question due to uncounted ballots, and help ensure voters understand what they need to do to comply with the law. This settlement does not solve all of the issues with Pennsylvania’s voting laws. However, we believe this is a huge step in the right direction and hopefully the General Assembly will use the recent voter lawsuits as the impetus for major voting reform in Harrisburg,” Mobilio said.
The federal lawsuit had said mail-in ballots mailed in without the secrecy envelope and those not received by Election Day in the May primary election should be counted immediately. The suit was filed on behalf of nine voters, who the suit says are among the more than 260 voters in the 14th Senate District whose ballots were deemed invalid for those reasons.
The settlement means the primary election results will be certified, without the 260 improper mail-in ballots.
Zrinski said: “Making sure every vote gets counted has been my highest priority. This settlement represents movement towards that goal, while also allowing us to move forward toward the November elections. While I am deeply saddened that the votes in this race will not get counted, which means I will not be the State Senator for District 14, improving the vote by mail process and ensuring greater access to the ballot box in future elections, is what is most important to me."
Miller will face Republican Dean Browning in November.
As part of the settlement, Lehigh County has agreed to:
Notify all voters whose naked ballots are discovered prior to 8 p.m. on Election Day and/or provide the names of such voters to the party representative(s) who are on-site during pre-canvassing so that the party representative(s) can notify the voters.
Explore the purchase of a ballot sorter that has the capability to either weigh return ballots or measure their thickness so that voters can be notified of possible naked ballots.
Explore notifying voters if, upon receipt of their ballot, they believe that they may have submitted a naked ballot.
Explore changing the color of the secrecy envelope to something more conspicuous than white, so that the secrecy envelope stands out to the voter and is easily discernable from other materials provided to them with their mail-in ballot.
Include an insert with all outgoing mail-in ballot applications and absentee ballot applications (including permanent voter mailings) emphasizing the importance of providing contact information.
Include messaging on the Lehigh County Voter Registration website emphasizing the importance of providing contact information.
Northampton County has agreed to:
Include messaging to Northampton County voters emphasizing the importance of providing contact information including a notice on the Northampton County Voter Registration website.
During the pre-canvass which begins on or after 7 a.m. on Election Day, the county shall provide the names of all voters whose naked ballots are discovered prior to 8 p.m. on Election Day to the party and/or candidate representative(s) who are onsite during pre-canvassing so that the party representative(s) can notify the voters.
Explore changing the color of the secrecy envelope to something more conspicuous than white, so that the secrecy envelope stands out to the voter and is easily discernable from other materials provided to them with their mail-in ballot.
