Nearly 1M Pa. voters apply for mail-in ballots
Pennsylvania has received nearly a million applications for mail-in and absentee ballots for the June 2 primary, an influx that state officials touted as a crucial benchmark in its efforts to prepare the election for the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak.
But for many of the commonwealth’s 67 counties, the number of mail-in and absentee ballots they’ll have to process — and count, when the time comes — could end up to be as much as 10 times as many as they tallied in the 2016 primary, when mailin ballots weren’t an option for Pennsylvanians and there wasn’t a pandemic threatening the viability of in-person voting.
The significant uptick in mail-in and absentee ballot interest has led some stakeholders and watchdogs to request more funding from the federal government and more practical assistance from the state. The governor and secretary of state outlined some of the state’s efforts this week.
Of the more than 940,000
applications received by counties statewide, Allegheny County has processed about 120,000 — and has another 10,000 in the queue, said spokeswoman Amie Downs. The county, which normally receives around 15,000 absentee applications, has deployed about three times as many staffers, including temps and workers from other departments, to work two shifts and weekends processing the volume of applications.
Westmoreland County has received more than 27,000 mail-in and absentee applications, Fayette County about 6,000 and Butler County about 13,000, according to state numbers. In Washington County, election officials have processed close to 14,000 mailin and absentee ballots so far — compared to about 1,900 absentee requests it processed in the 2016 presidential primary, county officials said. And Erie County has received about 21,000 mail-in applications, about eight times as many it received in the primary four years ago, according to its elections supervisor.
“With applications requests growing every day, I expect that number to be close to 25,000 or 30,000 by June 2,” Erie County elections supervisor Tonia Fernandez said.
Receiving about threefourths of its ballot applications online, the state credited the influx — partly — to “a comprehensive voter education campaign” to inform the public about the newly-available mail-in option and the five-week postponement of the primary, said Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar at a news conference this week. The effort included the mailing of 4.2 million postcards to registered Democrats and Republicans.
Though the state continues to urge voters to sign up for the no-excuse mail ballots, it also reiterated that polling places will be open on Election Day. Gov. Tom Wolf said the state department purchased masks and other protective equipment to distribute to counties for precincts.
Ms. Boockvar noted that there have been questions about whether facilities that have been ordered closed — like community centers, clubs and halls — can open up as polling places. She said they can, adding that the state will put out more guidance soon.
In late April, Allegheny County election officials passed a resolution asking the state to allow it to further consolidate polling places — proposing that one polling place operate for each of its 129 municipalities and one for each of Pittsburgh’s nine city council districts. That matter is still under state review, Ms. Downs said.
To alleviate staff shortages at polling places, Ms. Boockvar said “conversations have just begun” around allowing Pennsylvania National Guard members to work, in plain clothes, at precincts.
The state also is urging the Legislature to pass a bill allowing counties to tally mail-in and absentee ballots earlier, though it had already moved the time from 8 p.m. on Election Day to 7 a.m.
“The sooner they can start the pre-canvassing and canvassing of the ballots, the sooner they can get it done,” Ms. Boockvar said, noting that some counties have purchased special equipment to help open ballots.
Addressing calls for an all-mail election, Ms. Boockvar said the administration believes the best way to balance public health with voter participation is holding a “hybrid election” with in-person voting available — which, for one, would allow for voters with disabilities to get the proper assistance.
The state is encouraging voters to apply for their mail-in and absentee ballots now so the counties can begin to process the requests, which would help ensure there aren’t last-minute complications.
To apply for a mail-in ballot, registered voters can go to VotesPa.com/ApplyMailBallot and fill out the online form with a Pennsylvania driver’s license or Penn DOT-issued photo ID handy. Exceptions and other forms of ID can also be found on the website.
Voters also can fill out a paper application from the state’s site and mail or deliver it to their county’s election office. The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on May 26.
For those who applied before the change in the primary date, those applications are still valid.