Deadlines approaching to vote absentee in special election
WAYNESBURG – Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman urged absentee voters to submit their ballots as soon as possible to ensure their votes count for the upcoming special congressional election.
At the Board of Elections meeting Thursday, commissioners discussed the upcoming 18th District election, which includes the western half of the county’s precincts.
The last day to apply for an absentee ballot in any election is the Tuesday before the election and ballots need to be back to the elections office the Friday before. For the March 13 election, those dates are March 6 and March 9, respectively. Applications to vote absentee are available at the Board of Elections office or online.
Zimmerman encouraged people to hand-deliver ballots to the office. He talked about several situations in which ballots had been mailed in what people considered plenty of time, and were still late to the office.
Receiving applications and ballots late has become a more frequent occurrence in Greene County, said elections director Tina Kiger, due to how the post office has recently restructured in the area. Their office receives little to no mail on Tuesdays, for example, which poses a problem since the absentee application deadline falls on that day. Those interested in voting absentee should get their applications in as soon as possible, Kiger said.
Larry Spahr, director of elections in Washington County, said that though the vast majority of mailed absentee ballots make it to their office and are processed properly, there have been incidents where ballots arrive three or four months after the intended election.
“It doesn’t happen often, but it happens,” Spahr said.
He encouraged anyone applying for an absentee ballot close to the deadline to hand-deliver their ballot to ensure it is received by the 5 p.m. deadline March 9. The office has processed about 400 applications for absentee ballots so far. Greene County had processed 115 applications as of Thursday morning.
In Pennsylvania, voting by absentee ballot is available to anyone who will be away from their municipality for work, a leave of absence or vacation, as well as college students at school. Voters who are ill or disabled, veterans unable to get to their polling place, those who are observing a religious holiday and those who are staffing election precincts are also eligible. Active-duty military members swerving overseas or those outside the country for business can also apply to vote absentee.
For more information about absentee voting, call the Washington County elections office at 724-228-6750 or the Greene County office at 724-852-5304. Registration and polling locations can be verified online at www.votespa.com
Republican state Rep. Rick Saccone, Democrat Conor Lamb and Libertarian Drew Gray Miller are vying in the special election to fill the remainder of the term of former congressman Tim Murphy, who resigned amid scandal in October.