Lehigh, Northampton mail-in ballot returns lag compared with ’20

Around two-thirds of the voters who requested ballots to vote by mail have returned them, elections officials in Lehigh and Northampton counties say.

But with a day to go before the deadline, the rates at which voters have mailed back or dropped off their completed ballots is significantly lower than that after polls had closed in the 2020 election when around 90% of ballots provided were returned.

The numbers of mail-in ballots requested for this year’s municipal election are fewer than in the 2020 election, which featured the hotly-contested presidential race. In this election, there are no federal or statewide offices on the ballot, although both counties are electing county executives and mayors in their largest cities.

Out of the 29,170 ballots sent to voters in Lehigh County, 18,076 or 62% have been received. That’s a lower rate compared to last year,

when 77,004 out of 86,821 ballots, or 87%, were returned in Lehigh County.

In Northampton County, 28,887 ballots were sent out and 20,474, or 71%, have been returned. That’s also a significantly lower rate than in 2020, when 73,914 out of 78,424 ballots, or 94%, were returned.

This year’s election is the first municipal election in which vote-by-mail ballots have been an option for voters. In the last municipal election following a presidential race in 2017, voter turnout in Northampton County was about 23%. Voter turnout in Lehigh County was 22% in the 2017 election.

Party officials credited mail-in ballots with boosting voter engagement in the May primary election when turnout was 5% higher in Northampton County and nearly 8% higher in Lehigh County than in the 2017 primary.

Mail-in ballots must be received in county election offices by 8 p.m. Tuesday. It is too late to mail completed ballots, so voters should use one of the four ballot drop boxes in Northampton County or five boxes in Lehigh County.

The Northampton County drop boxes are at the courthouse in Easton at 669 Washington Ave., Bethlehem City Hall at 10 E. Church St., the human services building at 2801 Emrick Blvd. in Bethlehem or the 911 center at 100 Gracedale Ave. in Upper Nazareth Township.

The Lehigh County drop boxes are at the Lehigh County Government Center at 17 S. Seventh St. in Allentown, the North Whitehall Township Building at 3256 Levans Road, the Lehigh County Authority lobby at 1053 Spruce Road in Lower Macungie Township, the Fountain Hill Borough Building at 941 Long St. and the Emmaus Borough Office at 28 S. Fourth St.