April 28, 2025 -- Election Systems & Software, the Omaha, Nebraska, company that prints Lackawanna County’s mailed election ballots, formally acknowledged today that it was responsible for the error that resulted in incorrect ballots being mailed to 545 Scranton Republicans, and apologized to the county government and affected voters.

Normally, the company would print all Lackawanna County ballots in a single run. But because of a legal challenge involving the Republican primary race for Scranton mayor, printing of the Scranton Republican ballot was delayed. After the case was decided by the Commonwealth Court, the county authorized printing, but the company mistakenly printed the 2024, rather than 2025 ballot.

In an email today to Beth Hopkins, director of the Lackawanna County Department of Elections and Voter Registration, Kristy Ericson, director of ballot management services for Election Systems & Software, wrote:

“Due to the court case involving Bob Bolus, Lackawanna County ballots were printed in two separate runs. Scranton Republican ballots were sent after the majority of the county’s ballots were printed.

“During the printing process, an employee mistakenly pulled and printed a file from the 2024 election instead of the current 2025 election. This human error in processing the files was missed in the quality check process. ES&S reviewed all other provisional and Election Day ballots to ensure that files were printed accurately.

“ES&S apologizes to the county and affected voters for this human error. We are taking all necessary steps to enhance our internal review processes so this doesn’t occur in the future.”

In a separate email to Hopkins, Lackawanna County Republican Party Chairman Dan Naylor also recognized that the mailing of the incorrect ballot was an error:

“Beth, I just wanted to say mistakes happen. I know it was unintentional. As chairman of the Republican Party, I have full confidence in you leading the voter registration office and I know you will put in place safeguards so this does not happen again.

“When you have a chance, I would like a list of every Republican that was sent a mail-in ballot.”

Hopkins said that when she learned from a voter on Saturday that the Scranton Republican ballots were incorrect, she contacted Election Systems & Software. The company, she said, acknowledged the mistake and immediately printed the correct ballots. The ballots were shipped by courier from a printing plant in Birmingham, Alabama, and were in the county election office today by 8 a.m. They will be mailed today, Hopkins said.

“This was an unfortunate and rare mistake but I want to thank Beth Hopkins and her staff and ES&S for quickly correcting it,” Commissioner Bill Gaughan said. “Republican voters in the city, along with more than 12,000 other voters of both parties across the county, will have accurate ballots in plenty of time to cast their votes and have them counted.”

Hopkins said the 545 Republican voters in Scranton who received the incorrect ballots should discard them, including the envelopes, and use the ballots that they will receive this week. The new ballot will include an explanatory letter.