Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
OFFICIALS: GET BALLOTS TO COUNTY DROP BOXES
Voters urged not to send ballots through mail at this point
Officials and Democratic voting activists are urging those Chester County voters who have received mail-in ballots ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election to return them as soon as possible, using the county’s multiple drop boxes rather than the U.S. Postal Service.
“We would appreciate if people would return their ballots this weekend so they can be counted and don’t have to be segregated,” said commissioners Vice Chairman Josh Maxwell, who visited the county’s satellite election station in Chester Springs Tuesday to view long lines of voters waiting to fill out applications for the mail-in ballots.
Uncertainty with how the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually treat any ballots returned after 8 p.m. on Election Day is motivating Democrats to get the outstanding 60,000-plus ballots in before that deadline. The state is one that observers say could tip the election between President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden Jr.
“I’ve been saying it for weeks,” said Lani Frank, former vice chairwoman of the Chester County Democratic Committee and a longtime party activist. “Don’t put your ballot in a mail
box. Put it in a drop box. I wouldn’t trust the Post Office.”
Tuesday was the last day to request those ballots, which are being used for the first time in a General Election this year. Several hundred voters stood in line outside the Henrietta Hankin Library in West Vincent, getting their applications certified and, in some cases, ballots returned at the same time.
According to the county Office of Voter Services, as of Wednesday the county had logged and processed 172,805 mail-in ballot requests. Of
those, the vast majority of requests came from registered Democrats — 96,320 to be exact, twice as many as the 48,051 Republicans who asked for the ballots. More than 21,000 independents and third-party voters also requested the ballots.
On Thursday, the county reported that 115,471 ballots had been returned, or about 67 percent of those given out, the most-ever early voters in county history. Nationwide, figures show that approximately 70 million voters had returned their mail-in ballots or voted early as of Wednesday, more than half the number of people who voted in the 2016 presidential election.
As it now stands, election officials in Pennsylvania
are permitted to process and count ballots that are returned by Friday, Nov. 6, generally so long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3. But state Republicans and the Trump campaign have challenged that time frame, saying without evidence that the longer count could allow for voting irregularities or fraud.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would not grant a quick, pre-election review to the Republican appeal to exclude absentee ballots received after Election Day. The court’s order left open the possibility that the justices could take up and decide after the election whether a three-day extension to receive and count absentee ballots ordered by Pennsylvania’s high court was proper.
The issue would take on enormous importance if Pennsylvania turns out to be the crucial state in next week’s election and the votes received between Nov. 3 and Nov. 6 are potentially decisive.
The Supreme Court ruled hours after Pennsylvania’s Department of State agreed to segregate ballots received in the mail after polls close on Tuesday and before 5 p.m. on Nov. 6.
The Alliance for Retired Americans, which had sued in Pennsylvania state courts
for an extended deadline, said the ruling means that ballots arriving during the three-day period after Election Day will be counted.
“This is an enormous victory for all Pennsylvania voters, especially seniors who should not have to put their health at risk during the pandemic in order to cast a ballot that will be counted,” Richard Fiesta, the alliance’s executive director, said in a statement.
New Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not take part in the vote “because of the need for a prompt resolution of it and because she has not had time to fully review the parties’ filings,” court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in an email.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for three justices, indicated he would support the high court’s eventual review of the issue. But, he wrote, “I reluctantly conclude that there is simply not enough time at this late date to decide the question before the election.”
Last week, the justices divided 4-4, a tie vote that allowed the three-day extension ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to remain in effect.
Despite the high tensions over Tuesday’s election, Maxwell said the crowds
he saw outside the Hankin Library and the Government Services Center in West Goshen remained peaceful, even if those supporting the candidates were “fervent” in their demonstrations there.
“The emphasis was to get the mail-in applications processed for as many people in line as possible,” Maxwell said. Those who waited in line at Voter Services and both election satellite offices were given the option to complete a paper ballot application before the statutory deadline of 5 p.m., will time stamp the application and invite everyone who has completed the ballot application to return tomorrow to pick up their ballot, only if they so choose.
“People realize how important it is to vote this year,” Maxwell said in an interview. “The county could decide the presidential election, and we expect the highest voter turnout we have seen in decades.”
The first-term Democrat said the 10 local libraries where drop boxes are located, as well as the main county office in West Goshen and the two satellite offices provide easy access for voters who want to ensure their votes are counted up to Election Day night.
“Libraries are close to
everyone in the county,” he said. “You can just drive down the street and drop it off, instead of going to the post office. The weekend is a perfect time for people to get their ballots in.”
Maxwell repeated his promise that the county would have an accurate count of all mail-in ballots received by 8 p.m. on Election Day and all those votes cast in-person by sunrise on Nov. 4. “The process of counting is rather simple, but we know that the magnitude is great.”
Frank, who was critical of the way the county handled mail-in ballots in the June primary said she was generally satisfied with the county’s measures this fall.
There are 13 sites where voters can drop off their ballots before Election Day. They are the county Government Services Center, the Hankin Library, the Oxford Library, and the libraries in Avon Grove, Coatesville, Downingtown, Easttown, Honey Brook, Kennett Square, Phoenixville, Parkesburg, and Spring City. All have Saturday hours; the Government Services Center and the Hankin library locations are closed Sunday.
Ballots can be returned at those locations until 8 p.m. Tuesday when polls close.