Williams

Williams

A recent survey of Luzerne County mail voters reinforced the need to get ballots out sooner if possible, the county Election Board said this week.

“The common denominator from the responses we received was that many received the mail ballot close to Election Day, which did not leave enough time to mail them back,” said election board Chairwoman Denise Williams. “I think it’s better to try to shoot for mailing them much earlier.”

The volunteer citizen board sent letters to 1,382 of the 6,226 county voters who were logged as receiving Nov. 2 general election mail ballots but not returning them to the county for their selections to be counted.

Williams had proposed the survey, saying the volume of unreturned ballots was a “large number” and a “big question mark” for her.

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According to information the board presented this week:

In total, 106 voters responded to the board’s survey. Of those, 75 said they received their ballots, while 31 indicated they did not.

“Most of these responses state (if the ballot arrived) that it was within just days of Election Day,” the board report said. “The overwhelming majority noted dismay at receiving ballots too late in the mail to return on time.”

The ballots were mailed from Wilkes-Barre the evening of Oct. 19, which was the last day possible.

Survey responses also revealed some voters may be unfamiliar with their option to vote provisionally at polling places if their ballot does not arrive, it said.

Provisional ballots are marked by hand and reviewed last so the county can verify a mail ballot was not also received from that voter.

There were only 260 provisional votes cast in the Nov. 2 general, Williams said.

“That says to me that maybe there’s not a public awareness of provisional voting,” she said. “Some gave the impression from what they wrote that they didn’t believe they had any other option. The average voter might not know about provisional voting.”

However, some survey respondents indicated they were out of the county at the time of the election and unable to vote in person or deliver a ballot if they received it too late, it said.

Williams said she is encouraged that new Election Director Michael Susek told the board mailing the ballots earlier is an election bureau priority.

Of the 6,227 mail ballots marked as sent but not returned, 4,050 involved voters affiliated as Democrats, compared to 1,625 Republicans, the board’s report said. The rest had no affiliation or other registrations.

Williams noted 928 mail ballots could not be counted because they arrived in the bureau too late, or after the 8 p.m. Election Day deadline.

Another 649 mail ballots were returned to the county as undeliverable, Williams said.

“If you didn’t get a ballot at all and signed up, you should definitely contact the bureau before the next election to confirm everything is correct,” she said.

In all, 18,250 mail ballots were returned and counted in the Nov. 2 general election.

The state requires counties to send mail ballot applications annually to all voters who had checked a box to be placed on a permanent mailing list when they initially applied.

Voters who return these applications will automatically receive mail ballots for all elections that year. The sending of annual applications to permanent mail voters was part of the bipartisan state Act 77 election reform that was approved in 2019 and authorized mail voting with no excuse or reason required.

Counties must send these annual applications by the first Monday in February.

The county is preparing to send applications to approximately 50,000 county voters by the deadline, Susek said.

To be removed from the permanent mail ballot list, voters must submit a “request to cancel my ballot request” form, which is available at votespa.com.

Last year, the bureau mailed applications to 55,000 voters on the permanent list.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.