Allegheny won’t offer satellite voting sites
County: Ballot delay worries have passed
Unlike last November’s general election, voters in Allegheny County won’t have the opportunity to visit satellite offices ahead of this May’s primary to apply for and vote their ballot all in one stop, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Last October, on the three weekends before the calendar turned to election month, the county opened several locations — from the South Park Ice Rink to the Boyce Park Ski Lodge — so voters could cast a ballot over-the-counter.
County elections administrators said the offices were intended to help mitigate concerns last year over the timeliness of the U.S. Postal Service — concerns that aren’t as pressing now — and that it would be too costly to host the offices ahead of the May 18 contests.
“It really comes down to, we just can’t be all things to all people when it comes to cost,” County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said at a Tuesday meeting of the Board of Elections, “and it becomes very difficult. We know this will be a low turnout election.”
The main county office at 542 Forbes Ave. will keep its lobby open for ballot drop-offs at extended hours in the week leading up to the election: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Election Day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Expressing concern about not having satellite offices, board member Bethany Hallam said she worries about voters who live outside city limits in areas with less access to public transportation.
“To me, I care much more that people vote in local and municipal elections in odd years than the presidential election,”
Ms. Hallam said.
Mr. Fitzgerald said voters have more options than ever to vote, adding that the county already has to foot the bill to keep its in-person polling places open and handle the volume of mailin ballots. That falls on the taxpayer, he noted.
“Unless we want to start giving the bill to the taxpayer, otherwise that money just doesn’t come from anywhere,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “I’d like to see the state come up with it.”
Jerry Tyskiewicz, the county director of administrative services for the elections division, added that each satellite office was staffed least year by about 40 employees, as well as county sheriffs, who had to provide on-site security and escort workers to the warehouse to drop off voted ballots — a costly endeavor.
“The worst excuse for limiting access to voting and not making it as easy as possible to vote is money,” Ms. Hallam countered, urging county officials to make the elections division more of a priority during negotiations over next year’s budget.
On other issues, officials described an elections department that is well-prepared for the primary, which will feature more than 2,000 candidates across the county pursuing municipal office and judgeships — as well as a handful of ballot referendums.
The county has received and processed about 90,000 applications for mail-in and absentee ballots — and expects to be able to start sending ballots to those voters by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, elections manager David Voye said.
Officials continue to encourage those who want to vote by mail to apply as soon as possible, and to not wait until the May 11 deadline. About 926,000 people are registered to vote in Allegheny County.
For those who want to vote in person, all 1,323 polling places will be open, Mr. Voye said. Only 30 have changed locations, and the county is seeking new spots for 11 more. On May 3, the county will send notifications by mail to all affected voters.
Of the 6,600 workers needed to staff the in-person polling places, the county has scheduled 3,780 so far, and began in-person training on April 10 with 62 sessions scheduled through May 15. Online poll worker training, a first for the county, will start April 19. The county is also sending postcards to poll workers reminding them of their eligibility to get the COVID-19 vaccine, officials said.