The Butler County Elections Board and a voter with a disability resolved a lawsuit Tuesday, Oct. 31 — the day it was filed — over the board’s policy on fixing mail-in ballots submitted without the required date.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed the suit on behalf of 72-year-old Linda Osborne. The suit claimed that after she submitted her mail-in ballot for the Nov. 7 election, a county election official called her Oct. 24 and told her that her ballot wouldn’t be counted because the outer envelope had not been dated.

The official told her that she could fix the error by coming to the election office or by going to her polling place on Election Day and casting a provisional ballot, but her disability precludes her from either remedy, according to the suit.

Osborne then discovered that state law allows voters with disabilities to use designated agents for issues related to their mail-in ballots, according to the suit.

An agent she designated went to the bureau and asked if he could bring her ballot back to her so she could properly date it, but an election official denied the request, according to the suit.

In May, the elections board had adopted a ballot curing policy to address mail-in and absentee ballots that are submitted without the date or voter’s signature on the return envelope.

To cure such a ballot, the voter must appear at the county Elections Bureau office at 227 W. Cunningham St. before 8 p.m. on Election Day and sign an attestation that includes the missing signature or date.

Voters with deficient ballots who can’t go to the bureau to cure their ballots can vote using a provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day, according to the policy.

The policy does not allow the bureau to cure any ballot on its own, send deficient ballots back to voters or issue new ballots due to deficiencies.

“The board of elections adopted a curing policy for mail-in ballots that lack the date and signature, but didn’t contemplate a situation where a voter couldn’t come to the election office,” said Chris Furman, the elections board solicitor.

Because Osborne can’t go to the office due to her disability and the election is too near for the board to change the policy, the board allowed Osborne to send a designated agent to the office to pick up a new ballot, Furman said.

Osborne’s defective ballot will be canceled, according to the consent order. The same process will be used if other voters who have disabilities are not able to comply with the curing policy.

Furman said the consent order satisfies the spirit of the policy, which the elections board will revisit next year.

The county commissioners comprise the elections board, except in years they are running for election, like this year, he said.

The commissioners appointed attorneys Mike English, Patrick Casey and Carol McCarthy to the board, but the commissioners will return to the board next year, Furman said.

“The county is acutely aware of the policy and will revise it. The final policy will be tweaked to address disabled voters,” Furman said. “It was a matter of a situation we hadn’t anticipated. The county wants all eligible voters to vote and all valid votes to count.”