Chester County pledges to ‘make it right’ as it navigates fallout from poll book error

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A report from an outside investigation into Chester County’s 2025 Election Day blunder was not enough to squash the concerns of a cluster of people still disaffected by the omission of more than 70,000 third-party voters from poll books.

The Chester County Board of Elections on Tuesday evening offered members of the public a chance to hear a presentation from Fleck Eckert Klein, the West Chester-based law firm behind the report.

In this case, an unnamed election worker quite literally checked the wrong box — one titled “only voters for the major parties” — when configuring the poll books.

“Bottom line is this appears to be a human error in clicking the wrong box for a general election,” said Sigmund Fleck, an attorney with the firm. “That box should not have been checked for a general election. The box that was checked should only be used during the primary.”

Other contributing factors outlined in the report include insufficient safeguards within the system, limited supervision, inadequate training, excess staff turnover and a lack of verification controls.

Despite two months’ worth of apologies, a tense election certification hearing rife with unfounded conspiracy theories — and an independent inquiry into the matter — emotions remained high. One attendee gave another the middle finger. Some berated the board.

Pleas for consequences

Others called for accountability, turning their attention to Karen Barsoum, the director of Chester County Voter Services. A Dec. 16 Philadelphia Inquirer article outlined allegations from employees that Barsoum harbored a toxic work environment.

“I saw multiple people go through proper channels, such as human resources and contacting the commissioners, to address the management problem within voter services,” Nathan Prospero Fox, a former county elections employee, said during public comment. “Do you know what happened to all of those people? None of them work for voter services anymore. Some by choice, some not by choice. So I will say this: Thank you for your time. And fire Karen Barsoum.”

A spokesperson for Chester County said, as a matter of policy, that the county is unable to comment on personnel matters. Investigators at Fleck Eckert Klein say they looked into allegations of micromanagement directed at Barsoum and did not hear those concerns from interview subjects.

Some in attendance were less direct about who should face consequences but demanded them nonetheless.

“The failure to do one’s job, such as overseeing our elections, is a dereliction of duty, which should lead to a disciplinary action or termination,” said Diane Hauser, of Uwchlan Township. “Who at the top is going to be held accountable for this massive error?”

Kent Kingan, of East Whiteland Township, cautioned against calls to fire county officials. He said he feared it could lead to unforeseen problems down the road.

“While firing someone may appease some people, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of Chester County overall,” Kingan said.

Moving forward

Voters affected by the poll book error were asked to cast provisional ballots on Election Day. In total, 12,600 people cast such ballots, which undergo more scrutiny than a typical vote.

The county is leaning on a 14-point action plan, which includes the implementation of system-level safeguards, dual-signature approval of poll book generation and the adoption of training, to prevent such an error from ever occurring again.

“As we work to implement the recommendations outlined in this plan over the course of the year, we will provide monthly status updates on our progress,” said chief experience officer Megan Moser, who is responsible for user experience in county computer systems.

In response to the report, the Pennsylvania Department of State said in a Jan. 23 statement that it is modernizing its Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors system to “include real-time validation checks and automated alerts for unusual poll book configurations.”

Fleck noted that during interviews, election staff “were sobbing and distraught beyond words” over the mistake.

“Know from the deep depths of our hearts that all three of us are sorry that this has happened, and we’re going to put in the work to make it right,” Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell said.

Commissioner Eric Roe said the county must work to rebuild trust in its elections.

“This is not the end,” Roe said. “There’s still time for accountability and improvement.”