188,000 mail-in ballots received

County has 11 drop boxes and 5 offices in operation

With less than a week until the 2020 general election, Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Ken Lawrence offered a status report on the county’s voting process during Thursday’s Montgomery County Board of Commissioners meeting.

“We are five days from Election Day on Nov. 3, so now is definitely your time to make a plan to vote,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence said as of Wednesday, there were 278,712 ballot applications approved, and 9,817 ballots requested in-person through the county’s Office of Voter Services or their four respective satellite offices in Lansdale, Narberth, Pottstown, and Willow Grove.

As of Thursday, 188,871 ballots were returned via the county’s established drop boxes and the U.S. Postal Service, according to Lawrence.

The application window for mail-in ballots closed at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, and for voters who submitted their requests on that day, Lawrence said the ballots were mailed on Wednesday.

Lawrence, who also serves as chairman of the county’s election board, urged those voting by mail to deliver their ballots in person to the voter services office, located at One Montgomery Plaza at 425 Swede St. in Norristown, or to any of the 11 secure ballot drop boxes throughout Montgomery County.

Between now and Tuesday, the drop boxes will be available for use from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Monday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday

and Sunday, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. Voters can take their ballots to the following locations:

• Cheltenham: The Cheltenham Wall Park, located at 1 Wall Park Drive in Elkins Park

• Conshohocken: 225 Washington St. in Conshohocken

• Lansdale: The Lansdale Church Road Parking Lot, located at 226 Station Square Blvd. in Lansdale

• Lower Merion: The Lower Merion Ludington Library, located at 5 S. Bryn Mawr Ave. in Bryn Mawr

• Norristown: Airy Street Parking Lot, located at the intersection of DeKalb and Airy streets in Norristown.

• Pottstown: The Pottstown Montgomery County Community College – West Campus at the Hanover Street Building, located at 95 S. Hanover St. in Pottstown,

• Royersford: The Royersford Municipal Building, located at 300 Main St., in Royersford

• Skippack: The Skippack Municipal Building, located at 4089 Heckler Road in Skippack

• Upper Dublin: The Upper Dublin Municipal Building, located at 801 Loch Alsh Ave. in Fort Washington

• Upper Frederick: Green Lane Park, located at 2144 Snyder Road in Green Lane

• Upper Moreland: The Willow Grove YMCA, located at 3300 Davisville Road in Hatboro

For those who have yet to receive their mail-in ballot, Lawrence advised voters who applied “more than six days ago” to request their ballot be reissued or vote in-person by provisional ballot. For more information on that procedure, visit www.montcopa. org/753/Voter-Services, or head to the voter services office, which is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this weekend, he said.

Furthermore, for voters still completing their mailin ballots, Lawrence offered the following reminders:

• Use black ink to fill out the ballot.

• Check your completed ballot and put it in the privacy envelope before putting it in the mailing envelope.

• Be sure to sign and date the mailing envelope.

Lawrence also addressed an instance that may cause some confusion among voters.

“If your ballot arrives with a marked out black box covering one of the addresses it’s fine,” he said. “Your ballot was printed with your address showing twice on the outside envelope.”

For those voting in-person on Tuesday, Lawrence reminded voters to verify their polling places in advance. To do so, visit the county’s voter services office website.

And after Tuesday comes and goes, county officials remind residents that they can recycle campaign materials.

“With Elec tion Day quickly approaching, people often ask how they should go about properly disposing and recycling campaign yard signs, and here at Montgomery County, we have designated recycling drop off centers for campaign yard signs, plastic signs as well as the metal stakes,” Commissioner Joe Gale said at Thursday’s meeting.

Area residents can take their items to the following locations:

• Abington Township Highway Yard, located at 2201 Florey Lane in Abington

• Cheltenham Township Public Works Facility, located at 8101 Old York Road in Elkins Park

• Borough of Collegeville Municipal Building, located at 491 East Main St. in Collegeville

• Douglass Township Building, located at 1320 East Philadelphia Ave. in Gilbertsville

• Horsham Township Municipal Building, located at 1025 Horsham Road in Horsham

• Lower Merion Transfer Station, located at 1300 North Woodbine Ave. in Penn Valley

• Lower Prov idence Township Public Works Facility, located at 500 Church Road in Eagleville

• Lower Salford Township Municipal Building, located at 379 Main St. in Harleysville

• Montgomery County Democratic Committee Headquarters (drop off in the parking lot behind the building), located at 21 East Airy St. in Norristown

• Montgomery Township Administration Building, located at 1001 Stump Road in Montgomeryville

• Upper Dublin Township Building, located at 801 Loch Alsh Ave. in Fort Washington

• Whitemarsh Township

Administration Building, located at 616 West Germantown Pike in Lafayette Hill

• Whitpain Township Administration Building, located at 960 Wentz Road in Blue Bell

These sites are placed throughout the county and will be open under “normal operating hours,” according to the county’s recycling department. For specific times, contact the respective offices. Those with questions can also call 610278-3618 or visit the county’s recycling department website at www.montcopa.org/637/Recycling-Information.

During the meeting’s public comment portion, Ambler resident David Morgan asked Lawrence of his “concern” of what he described as lack of news coverage of Congressional candidate Kathy Barnette “as a ... Black woman running for office.”

Lawrence did not acknowledge Morgan’s statements until the end of the meeting when the trio of elected officials were permitted to make closing remarks.

“It ’s 2020,” Lawrence said. “I would not tell you who you need to support. You do not tell me who I support, and for you to say that I should support Kathy Barnette because she’s an articulate Black woman is offensive to Kathy Barnette, and it’s offensive to me.”

Barnette is running against Democrat U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean in the 4th Congressional Distr ict , which covers much of Montgomery County.