A number of Lancaster city voters were erroneously sent notifications telling them that their polling place had been changed to the Lord’s House of Prayer on East Vine Street, poll workers there said.
The site is the polling place for Lancaster’s 4th Ward, 1st Precinct. At least 30 people who live outside the precinct showed up there Tuesday to vote, saying they had received cards directing them there, Judge of Elections Lee Seabolt said.
Many were from West King Street, especially the Umbrella Works building, at 305 W. King St. In at least some cases, they had the cards in hand.
Furthermore, the notifications had the wrong address for the polling place, the precinct’s Minority Inspector, Dina Burch, said. They gave the address as 136 E. Vine St., a private residence across the street from The Lord’s House of Prayer, which is at 133-137 E. Vine St.
The homeowner ended up posting a sign saying the address was not a polling place, Burch said.
Everyone who arrived at The Lord’s House of Prayer by mistake was directed to the correct polling place, Burch said.
The 4th Ward, 1st Precinct, is one of three precincts in Lancaster County whose polling place was changed for Tuesday’s election. (A fourth site had a name change, but the address was unchanged.) Accordingly, all voters in the precinct were mailed notifications by the county Board of Elections.
The Umbrella Works address, 305 W. King St., is in Lancaster’s 8th Ward, 1st Precinct. Its polling place did not change, so they should not have received mailers.
Lancaster County spokesman Michael Fitzpatrick said the erroneous mailer had been flagged for the Board of Elections to look into. He did not immediately have additional comment.
