By Keith Gushard

Meadville Tribune

At least a half-dozen voters in Meadville had to use a provisional ballot in Tuesday’s election because of a registration glitch in the Second Ward, Second Precinct.

The precinct didn’t have names for persons living along Grove Street — which is part of the precinct — listed on its poll records when people came in to vote in the basement of the Crawford County Courthouse. Those voters names apparently were included in the Jamestown area, according to the Crawford County Office of Voter Services.

“All were able to vote with a provisional ballot,” said Melanie Mushrush, director of voter services. “There will be a 100 percent full count. No one was denied (the right to vote).”

A provisional ballot is used when there is some question regarding a voter’s eligibility.

“Jamestown’s ZIP code has a Grove Street in it,” Mushrush said.

She said she isn’t sure what caused the Grove Street names from Meadville to be switched into the Jamestown area poll records.

Mushrush said she will be contacting the state voter system help desk following certification of election results to determine what may have happened.

Only a handful of other minor problems were reported with Tuesday’s election, according to the Crawford County Office of Voter Services.

In Richmond Township, one of three voting machines at the precinct didn’t open correctly when polls opened at 7 a.m., said Rodney Gigone, machine technician for the county.

Poll workers contacted the county and two additional machines were sent out to the precinct, he said.

Machine calibration problems were reported at the precinct polling places of East Fallowfield, Union, Athens and South Shenango townships, Gigone said.

“What happens is voters have to reselect their choices,” he said. “ ‘A’ may be ‘B’ and ‘B’ may be ‘A.’ ”

Technicians were sent out to each of those precincts to recalibrate the machines, he said.