ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The scale of the “mistake” Lehigh County officials made in mailing out ballots for this month's election is not yet fully known, county Executive Josh Siegel said Wednesday.
But Siegel said things are under control after an "extraordinarily difficult and stressful” few days.
The county elections office recently sent out 21,004 mail-in ballots to people on the May 2025 voter polls rather than its May 2026 voter list, according to Deputy Solicitor Sarah Murray.
The “broad majority” of those will not cause issues, as they went to people who requested mail-in ballots in both elections and didn’t change addresses, Siegel said.
But about 600 of those ballots have been deemed undeliverable by postal carriers and returned to sender this week, he said.
Elections workers have so far repackaged and resent more than 120 of those ballots to voters at their updated addresses, according to the county executive.
He said almost three-quarters of the returned ballots would have “occur[red] in a normal elections process.”
Other 'buckets' of voters
About 100 other voters who switched their registration over the past year also got incorrect ballots, Siegel said. They’ll soon get valid ballots letting them participate in their new party’s primary this month, he said.
Two other “buckets” of voters should experience no issues with their ballots, Siegel said, though issues could arise between now and Primary Day.
About 3,500 people who got a mail-in ballot requested one last year but didn’t ask for another this time around, according to officials.
"There's nothing wrong with those ballots. There's nothing problematic. There's no deficiencies.”Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel
Those ballots are invalid. Any that are submitted will be flagged by the county’s voting and not counted.
And just under 6,300 voters are set to get their May 2026 primary ballots about a week late; those voters didn’t request one last year, so they weren’t included in initial mailing, officials said.
“To be abundantly clear, there's nothing wrong with those ballots. There's nothing problematic. There's no deficiencies,” Siegel said of the ballots that will be delivered late.
Lehigh County officials plan to mail out “individualized” information to each affected voter, Siegel said.
Those mailers — to be sent in English and Spanish — will explain the error and what to do to ensure their vote is counted in the upcoming primary, he said.
Voters who are receiving valid mail-in ballots late should submit them in one of the county’s five drop boxes rather than sending them via the U.S. Postal Service, officials said.
Anyone who gets an invalid mail-in ballot can vote on Primary Day at the polls or request a new mail-in ballot by Tuesday.
Elections workers last week also mailed about 2,000 absentee ballots before the initial error was recognized, but those were sent using May 2026 voter rolls and are valid for those who receive them, Murray said.
'Deeply unfortunate and frustrating'
The first returned ballots came back to the Lehigh County Government Center about 4 p.m. Monday, Siegel said.
County officials immediately reached out to the Pennsylvania Department of State, according to the executive.
He credited new Lehigh County Chief Clerk of Elections Michael Paston for helping to quickly recognize the “clerical error” that caused the wrong ballots to be sent.
“To be clear, the system did work. We were able to catch the issue and identify it early on.”Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel
Paston took over the role Monday; former elections chief Tim Benyo resigned in March. The mistake occurred during a period of interim leadership in the office, Siegel has said.
Elections workers for much of Tuesday and Wednesday worked with state officials to “quickly find the facts” and start rectifying what Siegel called a “deeply unfortunate and frustrating error.”
“To be clear, the system did work,” Siegel said. “We were able to catch the issue and identify it early on.”
He played down Lehigh County Republican Chairman Joe Vichot’s calls for an independent, bipartisan investigation. Vichot sent a letter to Secretary of State Al Schmidt on Wednesday, just ahead of Siegel’s news conference.
“I question the sincerity of the local Republican Party coming forward on that,” Siegel said. “Parties get involved in this, and they make it about scoring points. This is not about partisanship.”
Working through fallout
Siegel, who also leads Lehigh County’s elections board, said he is urging all local politicians and leaders to help county officials work through any fallout from using the wrong voter list.
County Commissioner Ron Beitler, who was at Wednesday’s news conference, said he is satisfied with the response from Siegel’s administration but conceded he’s still learning about the fallout from the mistake.
“I really hope the board of elections gets this squared away so that people can exercise their right to vote in the primary."Lehigh County Commissioner Geoff Brace
County Commissioner Geoff Brace on Tuesday said he “really hope[s] the board of elections gets this squared away so that people can exercise their right to vote in the primary."
Democrats in the county will cast ballots in four primaries at the state and federal levels.
The race to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in November highlights those ballots.
Lamont McClure, Bob Brooks, Carol Obando-Derstine, Ryan Crosswell will face off in the Democratic primary while Mackenzie is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District is one of the most coveted swing seats in the U.S. House according to many political observers.
