HOLLIDAYSBURG — Most of the 45 provisional ballots cast in Blair County on Tuesday will count, the elections board decided Thursday.

But some or all of the votes cast on nine provisional ballots were rejected by the county board of elections, including three provisional ballots lacking the required voter signature.

If there’s no signature, then it cannot be accepted, election board chairman Amy Webster said during a review of the provisional ballots, drawing agreement from fellow board members and commissioners Laura Burke and Bruce Erb.

The three ballots rejected for lack of a voter signature were completed by voters who had ballots mailed to them, then reported to their precincts to vote.

Had they taken their mailed ballot into the voting precinct, they would have been allowed to cast a regular ballot, election board solicitor Nathan Karn said.

While the use of provisional ballots is designed to preserve one’s right to vote when eligibility is questioned, failure to follow the rules associated with completing provisional ballots is a way to lose one’s right to vote.

“When voters cast a provisional ballot, there’s always a risk that they’re going to make a mistake,” Karn said.

Most of the 45 provisional ballots cast Tuesday were used by voters who had ballots mailed to them, but showed up at their polls to vote. Because many of those ballots appeared to be completed correctly, the elections board quickly agreed that their votes should be counted.

Provisional ballots were also excluded during Thursday’s review when the elections office found no valid voter registration on file.

The elections board also reviewed provisional ballots cast by voters who changed addresses within the county. In those cases, the board agreed to count votes for state and county offices, but not for races in the voters’ former municipality or school district.

The board also rejected a provisional ballot that provided votes only for the four state referendum questions.

The voter who completed the provisional ballot told her precinct workers that she forgot to turn her ballot over and vote on the questions, Director of Elections Sarah Seymour told the elections board.

Without being able to verify that, the elections board agreed that the provisional ballot with the referendum votes would be rejected.

Provisional ballots that were approved Thursday are expected to be counted today along with mailed ballots not included in Tuesday night’s vote count. Write-in votes are to be reviewed today and could extend into Monday.

For updated election results, see the county’s website at www.blairco.org.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.