PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — So you requested a mail-in ballot in Pennsylvania — but now you’ve changed your mind. Can you still vote in person?
The short answer: Yes.
According to Bob Harvie, Bucks County commissioner and chair of the county Board of Elections, logbooks at polling places will be split in half this year.
“The front half is people who did not apply for a mail-in ballot or absentee. The back half is people who did,” he said.
People who didn’t apply for a mail-in ballot will vote as usual at the polls, but for those who show up and did request a mail-in ballot, there are a couple options.
The easier one is to simply bring your mail-in ballot to your polling place on Election Day. Bring everything — the ballot and the return envelope — and hand it over in person.
If you show up to the polls without your mail-in ballot, you can cast a provisional ballot, which is set aside until after the election.
“There’s sort of a rectification,” said Harvie, “here are the people who voted by provisional ballot; we have to make sure they didn’t mail in another ballot.”
Before the provisional ballot is counted, it has to be double-checked by election officials.
Mail-in ballot oversight
Despite a pandemic, thousands of phone calls from concerned voters, and several lawsuits, Bucks County says it is ready to safely and fairly conduct the election.
However, county officials sent a letter to lawmakers in Harrisburg criticizing a Republican-led plan to form an oversight committee for the upcoming election. The letter was sent to the governor and state House and Senate leaders.
Because counties in Pennsylvania aren’t allowed to start opening mail-in ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day, the letter states, it will take them days to finish counting. So if they really want to help, the letter asks lawmakers to allow them to open the envelopes at least a week in advance.
“It’s not an advantage to one side or the other side, Democrat or Republican,” said Republican Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo. “This is not a security or safety issue. We will not be counting the ballots, we would just be opening the envelopes.”
The letter concludes by saying Pennsylvania law already allows each candidate and political party a chance to observe pre-canvassing. But because the proposed resolution has subpoena power, it reads, “if this resolution results in our staff being pulled away from their duties of administering a fair, secure and accurate election, that should give us all considerable concern.”