Bucks County to segregate mail-in ballots that aren't dated, send notice to the voters

The crucial mid-term election that will decide the makeup of both Congress and the Pennsylvania Assembly, as well as the state's next governor and US senator, is less than a week away and confusion still reigns about which mail-in ballots can be counted.

Following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday that only those ballots whose outside envelopes are dated can be counted, the Bucks County Board of Elections will segregate ballots that are missing the date, said Tom Freitag, board director, on Wednesday.

The county will try to contact the voters who mailed or dropped off those ballots in drop boxes by postcard so they can come to the Election Board and date their ballot or sign their signature if that is needed, he said.

At the Bucks County Commissioners meeting Wednesday, Freitag said polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Election Day and that 70,183 of the 98,207 mail-in ballots requested by county residents have been returned to the Election Board so far, accounting for 71% of those requested.

Since the deadline to apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot was Tuesday, the board expects to finish mailing out those ballots Wednesday. The remaining ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. Election Day, Nov. 8,  and the outer envelope is required to be signed and dated.

Freitag said the Election Board is consulting with the county solicitor’s office about what to do with the undated ballots in light of the Supreme Court ruling.

County Solicitor Joseph Khan could not be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon but county spokesman Jim O’Malley said that the state Supreme Court decision was “obviously a developing situation, but what I can say is the Board of Elections is going to follow the law and guidance from the (Pennsylvania) Department of State in handling these ballots. Appeals in this litigation are not being handled by us.”

More: Pa. Supreme Court, siding with Republicans, orders officials not to count undated ballots

He added that the “BOE staff will attempt to reach out to voters via postcard if their ballots arrive with date issues.”

Several county residents expressed concerns about the election to the county commissioners, and asked for backups to the new electronic voter registration books that the poll workers will use to check on the status of voters who come to the polls to cast their ballots.  They will be flagged if the system shows they’ve already cast a mail-in ballot or be referred to their right precinct if they show up at the wrong one.

More: Bucks County to deploy digital poll books for general elections starting in November

Ed Mackouse, of Buckingham, who frequently attends the meetings, said he thought Bucks County did a good job in protecting the integrity of the election but he questioned how the county would safeguard the votes of people in nursing facilities.

He also thought that the drop boxes for mail-in ballots now set up at county buildings and libraries should have still photo counters on them to verify the number of people who use the drop boxes and the number of envelopes collected.

“We need a system people have confidence in,” he said.

Beth Curcio, of Warminster, who frequently attends the commissioners’ meetings, said that counting the votes correctly is so important to the continuation of government.  “We could lose our republic,” she said.  “How come France can do an election in paper ballots in one day?”

She suggested that Americans should have the day off from work or school to vote and that voter identification should be required as it is to board an airplane or to go to a doctor’s office.

Commissioner Chairman Bob Harvie said voter identification is a good idea but not everyone has an identification card. He cited the case of a centenarian who voted in every election but didn’t have a birth certificate.  He questioned whether requiring identification was a way to cut down on the number of voters.

But he did agree that making Election Day into a national holiday so that everyone could be off to vote would be a good idea. “It’s certainly something I agree with,” Harvie said.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County to segregate mail-in ballots that aren't dated, send notice to the voters