Vote In Person; Don’t Trust The Mail Reprise
By Pauline Braccio
My article from Sept. 10 left some confusion. My view that you should not trust the mail and vote in person hasn’t changed but let me clarify.
Here are the new rules concerning mail-in ballots:
If you apply for a mail-in ballot, your name gets put on a list when it is sent out to you. When you receive it, if you change your mind, DO NOT throw it out! You must bring the BLANK mail-in ballot and the ENVELOPE to your polling location and turn it in. Only then will you receive a regular ballot that will then be scanned.
If you marked the ballot, you can bring it in, but you will vote by provisional ballot that is not scanned.
If you applied for a ballot, but did not receive it, you can come to vote in person, but will receive a provisional ballot that is not scanned.
Oct. 27, is the deadline for applications to be received by Voter Services. Not post-marked by that date. It actually has to be at Voter Services by that date. Please, if you are sure you want a mail-in ballot do it well before the deadline. The ballots get mailed out after the end of September. So there is a very narrow window for filling it out and getting it back.
Bottom line: Don’t apply for a mail-in ballot. It is not efficient. We still don’t know that the Postal Service will be able to handle it. I paid for Priority Mail on Sept. 16, and it still has not been delivered. Another person told me she sent a birthday card to her nephew in New Jersey on Sept. 12, and here we are 9 days later, and her nephew has not received it still.
And then there is this matter about what happened in Sussex County, New Jersey: https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-1600-new-jersey-primary-ballots-found-in-misplaced-bin-2-months-later
If you have questions about your ballot, i.e. you want to know the status of your application, call 610-278-3275, Voters Service. The recorded message will tell you how to find the answer to your question.
Mrs. Braccio is judge of elections in Towamencin Township in Montgomery County, Pa.
