Carbon County officials say corrective measures have been taken in its election office after a candidate for municipal government received a letter saying she won in November, even though she did not.

On Thursday, Jennifer Staines, who was a candidate for Lansford Borough Council in the 2025 municipal election, approached the board of commissioners with her grievance over how a mistake was handled in the election office.

Staines said that on Nov. 4, results showed that she had lost the election by nine votes; and on Nov. 7, after write-ins were counted, she had lost by five votes.

At that time, Staines asked the election director, Jennifer Ketchledge, for a recount, also questioning if that count included all write-ins, mail-ins and military ballots.

Staines said she was told that the matter was out of the election office’s hands and that she would need to file forms in the prothonotary’s office to request the recount, which she tried to do but was told the information she had been given was incorrect.

On Nov. 26, Staines received an envelope with documentation from the county election office stating that she had won the election; however, on Dec. 11, Ketchledge told her that it was sent in error and that she did not win the election.

“She’s laughing and she says, ‘I’m sorry, I should not be laughing,” Staines told the board, noting that at this point she ended the conversation and called the commissioners office and spoke with Commissioner Wayne Nothstein regarding the matter.

“I know it’s a personnel matter,” Staines said. “(However,) in the rush to certify (votes), errors were definitely made. Nothing should go to this level where I was mailed this. I think it was very unprofessional laughing.

“It feels like I lost twice, honestly, with getting this. It was just a slap in the face.”

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko responded, first apologizing on behalf of the county election board, for this happening.

He then said that this matter has been taken seriously and a meeting between the commissioners, elections department and HR has taken place.

“There was corrective measures made,” he said. “There was disciplinary action taken for the mistakes that had been made.”

Sofranko said he could not get into specifics of what actions were taken, but told Staines that it was being handled.

“What I can tell you is that it has not be taken lightly,” he said, adding that it is an ongoing investigation within the county departments. “... I have no answer as to why (it happened), other than it was poor workmanship and that should not be tolerated anywhere, especially in an election office in Carbon County.”

He added that they are also following up on a recent email that had been received, but didn’t elaborate further on that matter.

This is not the first issue being addressed by the county following the last election.

After the election in November, Kidder Township officials said that there was a ballot issue with one candidate’s name being left off the ballot.

At that time, Ketchledge said it was “human error” and tried to correct it by hanging up papers at the precincts regarding the four-year supervisor spot.

Kidder chairman Raymond Gluck said in November that the township had sent a letter to the county “noting displeasure that it was not caught before the ballots went out.”

On Thursday, when asked if those incidents were the only two issues from the last election, Sofranko said, “No. There has been other issues, not so much as numbers, but misspellings and just oversight that needs to be further looked into, checks and balance.

He said that this is not all the election office’s fault either, because municipalities need to maintain communication with the office on current boards so the county has the most up-to-date information available.

“The election offices sends memos out to all those townships and borough secretaries to make sure that we are updated as to what offices are up, how many offices there are and how long the terms are,” Sofranko said. “If we don’t receive a response back, they do their best to try and make phone calls and figure it out, but sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle.

Sofranko also pointed out that when board resignations happen, the newly appointed person doesn’t fill the full term, but is up for election in the next municipal election, meaning that terms are altered for that time being.