Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Voters choosing mail-in ballot option
More than 37,000 in Chester County have selected to receive mail-in ballots
WEST CHESTER >> Even with COVID-19 infection numbers declining and vaccination rates climbing, Chester County voters are still taking advantage of the option of voting by mail in the May 18 primary election, according to county election officials.
Karen Barsoum, the newly installed head o the county’s Office of Voters Services, said Friday that more than 37,000 registered voters in the county had formally requested they be given ballots that they can either mail to Voter Services or deposit in one of the many ballot drop boxes across the county.
Voters may ask for the mail-in ballots up until the end of business on Tuesday, May 11, a week before the primary, she said.
Barsoum said that earlier this year, the county had mailed letters asking the 115,000 or so voters who requested permanent mail-in or absentee status in the November 2020 Presidential Election asking them if they wanted to receive their ballots by mail this May.
She said it was unclear how many of those voters chose to continue the “stay at home” op
tion and how many of the 37,221 voters who had been sent ballots since April were new mail-in requesters.
She also declined to speculate on why voters were continuing to ask for mailin ballots — rather because of fear over the pandemic, anticipation of being away from the county on Election Day, or the simple ease of filling out the ballots and dropping them in the mail or at one of the county’s 13 secure drop box locations.
“It is more convenient for many people to participate this way,” she voted, however.
The number of requested mail-in ballots is significant since the normal voter turnout numbers are far less in municipal primary elections such as this year than in presidential elections.
In 2017, the last time the county held a municipal primary — in which offices include county row offices, Common Pleas Court vacancies, and local school board, supervisors, council and mayoral are listed — slightly more than 49,000 of the county’s then-363,000 voters turned up at the polls. The requested mailin ballot numbers show that a large percentage of likely voters would stay away from the polling places in their communities.
(Those who receive mailin ballot forms prior to Election Day but who decide to cast their votes inperson may do so if they bring with them their mailin ballot forms to the polling place, officials confirm.)
Those who asked for mail-in ballots continue to skew heavily towards registered Democrats, Barsoum said. Of the 37,221 ballots sent so far this year, 24,836 went to Democrats, 8,279 to Republicans, and 4,106 to those who are Independents or registered in third parties. Those “other” voters will be allowed to cast ballots in the three Pennsylvania Constitutional Referendum questions included on the May 18 ballot.
Barsoum also released the breakdown of registration figures for the county’s 369,060 voters. There continues to be a plurality of Democrats in the county, with 153,597 voters compared with 149,348 Republicans and 66,115 others.
The secure drop boxes the county Board of Elections approved last month are located at 12 libraries across the county, plus the county Government Services Center on Westtown Road in West Goshen, according to a news release.
Ten of the dropbox locations will be staffed during open hours (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.) Three drop box locations will be monitored by video surveillance and will be available seven days a week around the clock. The drive-thru video-secure drop box locations are Henrietta Hankin Branch Library in West Vincent, the Chester County Library in West Whiteland, Government Services Center.
All drop boxes will be open on Election Day until 8 p.m.
“As we did with last year’s election process, we are taking measures to protect everyone from COVID-19 who votes in person on May 18th, and ensure that ballots submitted by mail, dropbox, or at our satellite office are securely delivered to our Voter Services team and counted,” commissioners Chairwoman Marian Moskowitz said in the press release.
Details of the location and opening time of the satellite election office and the secure mail-in ballot drop boxes can be found on Chester County’s comprehensive election portal at www.chesco.org/elections. Included on the portal is an interactive map that allows voters to enter their address to find the satellite election office and secure drop-off locations closest to them.
All of the county’s 230 precincts located within 191 polling locations will be open on election day. The polling places will be set up to ensure the maximum level of personal protection against COVID-19 for both poll workers and the voting public on primary election day. This includes clear mapped-out 6-foot social distancing while waiting to vote and while voting; plexiglass shields; hand sanitizer and handwashing facilities; provision of masks, gloves and sanitation kits for all poll workers; regular cleaning of pens and voting stations; and specialized disinfectant for scanning machines.
Those arriving at the polls will be required to wear masks, the county said.