Election 2016

County receives high volume of requests for absentee ballots.

During an election when Montgomery County has received an “unprecedented” number of absentee ballot applications, those wanting the ballots have to wait a bit longer than in previous years.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls from people in the county wondering where their absentee ballot is, and I want everyone to be rest assured that their applications are being put into the system and processed,” said Commissioner Val Arkoosh, chairwoman of the Election Board.

According Arkoosh, the reason that absentee ballots are arriving on a later schedule this year is because there were some questions on the wording of a ballot question. In the spring, the county had to act quickly to comply with two last-minute ballot changes.

“It wasn’t cheap,” Arkoosh said.

According to county spokeswoman Lorie Slass, the cost was more than $10,000, not counting overtime for county employees to implement the change.

This year, they waited as long as possible to send the ballots to the printer, while waiting on a decision on a ballot question about the retirement age of judges. Arkoosh said the decision on the question’s wording came down in late September.

Despite waiting, Arkoosh said that Voter Services was still meeting every regulation and statute about the ballots. Any ballot application received before Oct. 25 will be processed and mailed by Oct. 27, she said, and any application received between Oct. 25 and the Nov. 1 deadline will be processed within 48 hours, as legally mandated.

“We really aren’t much behind prior years, I think there’s just a heightened sense of urgency for people to be able to vote,” Arkoosh said.

Voter Services is expecting to receive 30,000 absentee ballot requests this year, an increase from the last presidential election. In 2012, the county issued 25,462 absentee ballots. Of those, 20,970 were filled out and returned.

Arkoosh said Thursday that anyone worries about receiving their absentee ballot this election season can come to Voter Services, Room 602 at One Montgomery Plaza in Norristown, and submit an absentee ballot in person.

“We would urge you to do that. So if you feel like you are running up to the deadline and you don’t have your ballot yet, you can simply come here and vote in person,” Arkoosh said.