Almost 30k people in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA) received incorrect ballots this election sent by "Midwest Direct".

And obviously Republicans tried to prevent correct ballot from being mailed out.

So what happened? And who is Midwest Direct? https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/spl/pa-midwest-direct-allegheny-county-wrong-ballots-20201102.html

This article by @PhillyInquirer is excellent.

They uncovered how this small Cleveland company Midwest Direct -that nobody in Allegheny County actually hired- ended up with the $2.2M contract to send out all our mail-in ballots for the 2020 Election.

A "little known" purchasing program in PA called COSTARS allows companies to basically get on an "approved" list. So they don't need to go through a bidding process in order to get a govt contract.

Theres no vetting/approval required, just good legal standing. Then they're "in".

An Omaha based company, RBM Consulting, was on that approved list.

But the COSTARS program also allows subcontractors! So a COSTARS company can get a contract, then contract it out.

Allegheny Co. gave this contract to RBM Consulting, who then subcontracted it to Midwest Direct.

No one in Allegheny County ever vetted or hired Midwest Direct. No elected officials voted to give them the contract.

So how did RBM Consulting get the contract? How did they end up on the COSTARS list?

It's a little unclear. And they didn't answer any of the Inquirer's calls.

It SEEMS like they were added or approved by Republican members of the County Council.

And since RBM Consulting had no competitors on the list & the Elections Board assumed this company had been vetted, the County Elections Board contracted RBM to send out our mail-in ballots.

There are a lot of connections still left to make here, it's confusing and not that easy to follow.

But the result was very clear: 30k residents of Allegheny county received incorrect ballots or someone else's ballot entirely.

What does the County Council that approved all this, without the input of the Elections Board, think about that? Do they want a refund for such a big mistake?

Oh they discussed it w/Midwest Direct already?

Voye: "That's definitely something we're definitely going to look into".

There are lots of loose ends with this story, obviously...

So, sorry if my summary is confusing, it's confusing to me too! I did my best here.

I Pittsburgh & I do not anyone who tries to prevent Pittsburghers from voting.

@tommylisi Thank you for covering this event in a major newspaper! Do you see anything I misinterpreted or misrepresented here?

This story needs to have a lot more eyes on it.