The election may be over and a new president has been elected, however, Carbon County officials still have some questions the state has not answered regarding how to handle the ballots from other counties that the election office received.

On Thursday, the commissioners discussed the matter, as well as provided thoughts on the election events in the county.

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said that the issues the county had were mostly out of their control, mainly because the state wouldn’t provide answers to problems.

“You call the Department of State for answers and they tell you to talk to your solicitor,” he said. “They don’t want to take the blame. They want to blame Bob (Frycklund, county solicitor) and all the other Bobs out there if something goes wrong ... Don’t blame us. Make up your damn mind out there in the Department of State. Our elected officials in Harrisburg and the federal government have to get their act together and pass idiot-proof laws or come up with concrete answers.”

The commissioners said that one main issue still hanging over the election, which may delay certifying the vote, is the ballots Carbon received from other counties. Last week, the board noted they received four ballots that were completed by voters in other counties that should have never been delivered to Carbon.

“We’re still looking for some answers from the state,” Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko said. “Everyone wants us to certify elections, and we need some answers. ... We’d like to have some answers before we certify.

Sofranko added that he hopes elected officials begin to realize that reform needs to happen and start taking a hard look at putting directives and laws in place that help counties, rather than raise questions.

“Telling us to ask our solicitor is not going to solve the problem,” he said.

Frycklund said that the state has never made it clear on what counties should do with these ballots, noting that Carbon was one of seven counties to report receiving other county ballots, but he has not heard of any other county receiving Carbon County ballots.

“And that’s our concern,” Sofranko said, noting that any missing ballot is a problem because “every vote should always matter” even if it isn’t going to change the outcome of the election this time, future elections may depend on that one vote.

“Let’s make sure we address this concern. If there is a county out there with a Carbon County ballot, I’d like to know that. I think our commissioners would like to know it.”

Frycklund said that he feels that the state should begin an investigation on how these ballots wound up in the wrong counties, pointing out that there is both a barcode and QR code on the outer envelope to prevent this from happening.

“Hopefully there is going to be an investigation,” he said.

On the overall execution of the election in the county, the board said it went relatively smoothly.

Nothstein commended the men and women who helped with the election, from the county staff to poll workers, who stuck through the day and late into the night to make sure ballots were counted.

“Overall the election went as planned and very smoothly,” Sofranko said. “What was expected to happen here in Carbon County did happen. But what wasn’t expected was we would have 15,000 envelopes that needed to be opened in less than four hours.”

Sofranko commended Jennifer Ketchledge, Carbon’s election director, for her leadership with the envelope opener problem occurred. Her direction helped move things along.

The board also thanked Tim Benyo, Lehigh County’s election director, for helping by providing a mail-in ballot electronic letter opener after the county’s malfunctioned; as well as Larry Cinicola, county maintenance director, for running down and bringing the machine back to Carbon.