Chaos in ChesCo as wrong pollbooks are sent to polling places
Chester County Voter Services sent incomplete poll books to every polling precinct in the county, leaving off all voters who are not registered as a Republican or Democrat. The county acknowledged in an X post this morning that it’s “working to get supplemental poll books to every polling place.”
Chester County Voter Services is working to get supplemental poll books to every polling place. Until that time, any registered voter who is not listed in the pollbook can vote provisionally.
— Chester County Voter Services (@ChescoVoterSvcs) November 4, 2025
While the post states that any registered voter who is not listed in the pollbook can vote provisionally, precincts across the county are handling the situation differently. Some precincts are requiring those not listed in the pollbook to vote provisionally which can significantly increase the time needed to complete and cast a ballot.
One impacted voter at the West Chester Borough Precinct 6 said that for those who don’t have time to wait, they might just leave and not bother voting.
In other precincts, such as Treddyferrin-Easttown Precinct 5 and West Chester Borough Precinct 3, voters confirmed that they were permitted to cast a regular ballot — not a provisional ballot. Reports from both precincts said that poll staff printed names in the official poll book and allowed the voters to sign their name and fill out a regular ballot.
Chester County Commissioner Eric Roe (R) committed to a comprehensive review of the situation.
“Independent and unaffiliated voters should never have to feel like second class citizens,” said Roe in response to a request for comment. “We will do a top-to-bottom review of how this occurred and make sure a mistake like this never happens again. We will also be meticulously going over each provisional ballot cast in this election to ensure that all valid votes are counted.”
Democratic Commissioner Josh Maxwell said that “General Election poll books were printed without third party voters. How this happened will be looked into immediately after the election is over. In the meantime, each poll is stocked with provisional ballots so every registered voter in Chester County can still vote when they walk into vote. The team has printed supplemental poll books which will be delivered by park rangers. They should get to the polls by noon, after which, all registered voters will vote normally and not provisionally.”
Democratic Commissioner Marian Moscowitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chester County Democratic Committee Chair Charlotte Valyo said, “the Chester County Democratic Committee is aware and concerned about the problem with the voter roll books. Making sure every eligible voter can vote is of the utmost importance. No one should be turned away. Voters whose names do not appear on the roll book may vote provisionally. We support that approach until updated roll books are provided.”
Chester County Republican Committee Chair Raffi Terzian said, “this is outrageous, unacceptable and disenfranchises voters. To make matters worse, precincts are receiving inconsistent guidance on voting procedures. This should never happen in a county of our size and is a clear sign of widespread dysfunction and mismanagement.”
The incident is not the first time that Chester County government has mishandled voting. Earlier this year, county officials mistakenly failed to include the race for prothonotary on the primary ballot following the resignation of incumbent Debbie Bookman after a scandal.
“A mistake was made,” Chester County Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte Valyo told Delaware Valley Journal’s Linda Stein at the time.
Reaction to the “mistake” was not so muted among Chester County Republicans, some of whom blamed the incompetence on the new Director of Voter Services, Karen Barosum, who was hired in 2021 after Democrats won a majority on the county commission. Following Barsoum’s appointment, there was a massive turnover in the staff at voter services, with many experienced county workers departing.
Update: The original version of this article was published before receiving comment from Commissioner Maxwell. The story has been updated to include his quote.
Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.
“Reports from both precincts said that poll staff printed names in the official poll book and allowed the voters to sign their name and fill out a regular ballot.” Does this mean the poll staff had an official poll book and printed names in the book they received and allowed people to vote? Or does it mean, poll staff wrote in the name of a voter into the book they had (without checking elsewhere) and allowed them to vote? Either way, this is a PROBLEM!
If the story is to be believed, the real question is how is there a way to selectively remove a specific voter class from an “Official” (General Election) poll book?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Believe it. It’s true.
Went to vote this am and realized NO Independents were on the rolls. OUTRAGEOUS!!! So we were told to come back later since they were doing a printing with Indies on it. I do find it VERY ODD that we were selectively left off the rolls and told to come back later. Guess what? A lot of people who wanted to vote may NOT come back so they have been disenfranchised by this ridiculous messup. (I would use another word but won’t on this forum). Either way, it sure “smells”. I agree with your comment about how is it we were removed selectively from a “supposed official poll book??
Hey idiots, this just happened to us at Shamona Creek elementary school in downingtown pa. My son is a registered and voted in 2024, INDEPENDENT, and was NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION. I was told the polling books, in all voting centers in chesco, are not the general election books, which includes the third parties, but everyone got the PRIMARY BOOKS< SO DEMS AND GOP ONLY IN THE BOOKS! He was told that this school, HAD provisional ballots with NUMBERS< BUT RAN OUT.. so, the only way he can vote, is with a ballot WITH NO NUMBER ON IT, to verify it was scanned on the chesco voter website… GOT IT??? Then he was to put his UN NUMBERED BALLOT in an bland 8/10 envelope, and write his name, birthday, address, and phone number on the envelope. I was told by an election official, that this procedure, using unnumbered ballots, had NOT been approved, because NOBODY IS ANSWERING THE PHONE at the election office! That the election official decided to just "come up with something" so you could vote, but you cannot vet your vote!!!! They have no idea if or when this will be fixed. I then asked, "how many people have left cause of this and couldn't cast a vote?" He said, "as of now, at least 200." So we left, not able to vote. Will come back close to 8pm to see if the correct books are there. Doubt it.. Its chesco.. afterall. Oh and by the way, any doubters out there, CBS is already covering this.. just fyi.. and yeah, I called them and added OUR story as well.
“Brave New World” meets “1984” aka revenge of theEpsilon minuses. This is not particle physicis