Nov 5, 2020 3 min read

Washington and Greene county election personnel were tabulating mail-in and absentee ballots Wednesday that arrived before polls closed at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Melanie Ostrander, elections director in Washington, said about 600 ballots arrived in Tuesday’s mail or were dropped off at the box guarded in the lobby of Courthouse Square.

Sheriff’s deputies were on hand as mail-in ballots that had arrived earlier this election season were being processed in a closed-off meeting room.

Fifty-eight postal ballots were delivered Wednesday to the elections office, and Ostrander said she would confer with Washington County Solicitor Jana Grimm about when they should be tabulated.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, citing serious delays in mail delivery, in September allowed ballots, postmarked by the close of polls on Nov. 3, to be counted if they arrive at elections offices through Friday, Nov. 6.

The campaign of President Donald Trump announced Wednesday it was filing suit to halt the count of Pennsylvanians’ ballots.

Washington County received 36,795 absentee and mail-in ballots before a crew of 42 set to work Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. opening the double envelopes that were to accompany them.

Commission and Election Board Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan publicly lauded the efforts of the many people who labored to facilitate voting and the completion of a count Tuesday that included in-person, mail-in and drop-off absentee and postal ballots.

Voter participation in Washington County was nearly 76% of those registered, including in-person votes cast Nov. 3, mailed ballots and in-person early voting.

Greene County did not list a percentage, but Greene County Commission Chairman Mike Belding called it “heavier in-person turnout than anyone can remember.”

A Pennsylvania Department of State data dashboard listed 4,370 mail-in ballots for Greene County, although Belding placed the number at just over 4,100.

Shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, Belding responded to an inquiry via text message, “Ballot canvassing is progressing well in Greene County. We will upload completed ballot counts this afternoon and expect to finish up (Thursday,) completing all the ballots received by 8 p.m.” on Nov. 3.

Meanwhile, voters in two Washington County municipalities dealt differently with referendum questions about the number of seats in local government.

Midway Borough residents in the northwestern part of the county voted 272 to keep the size of its council at seven seats.

But in Donegal Township, citizens did the opposite.

Although they chose just a few years ago to expand the number of seats on the board of supervisors to five from a longtime three, results Tuesday showed 811 to 464 Donegal residents now want it to shrink back to its original size.

Ostrander said in next year’s local election, three supervisor positions will appear on the ballot, one for a six-year term, one for a four-year term and one for a two-year term.