Nov 3, 2004 By Jackie Beranek 4 min read

New to this year’s general election, provisional ballots, coupled with an overwhelming voter turnout, created delays and other problems for some voters and poll workers throughout the area Tuesday. A provisional, or paper, ballot is used when registered voters’ names do not appear in the official precinct rolls at polling places or when first-time voters in a precinct can’t produce approved ID, such as a voter registration card. Any voter whose name does not appear on the rolls is entitled to cast a provisional ballot, but elections officials must individually certify them as being cast by registered voters before they can be counted.

Due to heavy voter turnout, hundreds of California University of Pennsylvania students were not sure if their votes counted Tuesday, while others didn’t vote because not enough provisional ballots were sent to their polling place.

Democratic community assistants Brian Jacox and Betsy Clark, who engineered a push to register voters, said they were disappointed when they found out that the California 2 precinct, located in the old Phillipsburg School building, received only 20 provisional ballots to begin with.

Jacox and Clark said the shortage of provisional ballots caused many students to walk away from the precinct shaking their heads in disbelief or wait in line for hours for more provisional ballots to arrive from the Washington County Bureau of Elections.

And, the first batch of additional ballots sent from the bureau included only 20 more, California 2 Judge of Elections Fern Olesky said, noting that the precinct simply wasn’t ready for the rush of students who showed up to vote.

“We didn’t receive enough provisional ballots to begin with, and when we got more it wasn’t enough,” said Olesky. “Because the students were registered at the college, we had no idea how many had signed up to vote.”

Olesky said at 3:30 p.m. about 20 students were inside the building waiting to vote.

“We have never before experienced a problem like this,” said Olesky. “The only other time we saw a large crowd here was in the 1970s, when one of the students was running for something in the district.”

Olesky said the precinct had about 300 registered voters during the 2000 presidential election, but only about 185 to 195 showed up to vote. She estimated that only 40 college students had voted as of 3 p.m.

Olesky, who has been involved in elections for more than 30 years, said that when she told one woman that she couldn’t vote, she left crying.

“It’s a shame, but there is nothing we could do about it if their name is not on the list,” she said.

Pittsburgh attorney J. Crilley Kelly, who was overseeing polling sites for the Democratic Party, told students gathered for a voting day picnic, arranged by Clark and Jacox at nearby Theta XI fraternity, that he was making sure that more provisional ballots were on their way.

“We want everything to be fair,” said Kelly. “We really appreciate you hanging around, because you are what America is all about.”

Although Greene County election officials reported no problems with the provisional ballots, in Fayette County, Laurie Nicholson, director of the county election bureau, said some of the busier precincts, including South Union Township 1 and 2 and Washington Township 1, ran out of them.

Constable Bob Barron said a line formed at South Union 1, located at the South Union Township fire hall, beginning at 6:30 a.m.

“When one of the precinct ladies pulled up this morning at about 6:45 a.m., there were 100 people standing in line waiting to vote,” said Barron. “And it’s been this way since then. At least 100 people at a time have stood in line.”

Barron said he thought turnout at the precinct was going to set a record.

“I’ve been told that South Union 1 is the largest voting precinct in Fayette County,” he added. “This is the biggest turnout I have seen in 12 years. The turnout in 2000 was about 1,800, and I’m sure we will surpass that today.”

Nicholson said each precinct received 20 of the provisional ballots, and her office was delivering more to those places that ran out. The ballots were to be turned in to the bureau Tuesday night.

Other shortages of provisional ballots were reported in Allegheny County, where a lawyer for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s campaign said some voters were prevented from voting when at least a dozen precincts ran out of provisional ballots. More ballots were on their way, and voters were encouraged to return later in the day.