Under recent changes to the Election Code, voters now have until one week before the election (April 21) in which to apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot. Then they have until 8 pm on Election Day (April 28) to return them. Elections officials are unable to open and scan these ballots until 8 pm. Though scanning should be easy, it will be an ordeal to open two envelopes and then unfold the ballot for the scanner. Voter Registrar Amy Cozze told me yesterday that her office has already received close to 2,000 applications. Statewide, there are 20,000, according to The Courier Times. There will be more. Lots more. And this is just the primary. In the 2012 Presidential, Northampton County elections officials processed 6,008 absentee ballots in the general election. In 2016, there were 6,610. This year, no one really knows how many will choose to vote by mail. Estimates are that there will be at least 15,000 no-excuse absentee ballots this year, with the number growing each year. But can they all be counted on Election Day?
According to The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, this is a question elections officials themselves are asking. It argues that officials should be able to start the count sooner.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
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Thursday, March 05, 2020
8 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
How do you get the mail-in ballot?
ReplyDeleteNo reason not to start first thing in the AM, so that most are counted by close of polls, why start after the polls close.
ReplyDeleteYou can apply online. https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/OnlineAbsenteeApplication/#/OnlineAbsenteeBegin
ReplyDelete"No reason not to start first thing in the AM, so that most are counted by close of polls, why start after the polls close."
ReplyDeleteBecause the law forbids opening the ballots until then.
I agree that elections officials should be able to get a head start, but all counting should be done publicly so that candidates, party reps and members of the public can witness how things are going. If someone is behind, he or she would have time to appeal to supporters who may not have yet voted. This would in turn increase turnout and make elections more democratic. (small d).
Elections workers are awful busy on election day, sop a change in the law providing for an early count would make things less hectic for them, too.
It will be hectec and the excuses and rationale for the problems is being slowly fed to the public
ReplyDeleteThank you for the site. I want to ensure that I get to vote McClueless out.
ReplyDeleteAnyone on council asking about how many lawsuits are in the pipeline coming up?
ReplyDeleteHave no fear over the voting machines, the iPads. Just fear devious people who manage them. It’s coming.
ReplyDelete