GREENSBURG, Pa. — Just eight days ago, Westmoreland County Election Director Greg McCloskey told Channel 11 his office had processed about 1,800 in-person absentee ballots.
As of Tuesday afternoon, that number has jumped.
“We have taken over 6,000 ballots across the counter of people voting in person just in the last two weeks,” McCloskey told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.
The time to request an absentee ballot has now passed, but if you have your absentee ballot ready to turn in, you can drop it off at the office or mail it in as long as it’s received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
“I think we will still have a couple hundred people dropping [ballots] off each day,” McCloskey said.
That’s exactly what Barry Visnic of Penn Township did on Tuesday.
“Normally I just mail them in, but I wanted to get it here,” Visnic said.
Voting by mail, Visnic said, takes the stress away from something popping up on Election Day and potentially interfering with him being able to vote.
“If something happens, if I’m sick, I’d just rather have it done, knowing it’s done,” Visnic said.
Ballots continue to come in through the mail, too. The county has processed more than 43,000 absentee ballots so far.
Westmoreland County Park Police are working to make sure there are no foreign substances on envelopes.
They have their K9 officers sniffing for fentanyl and other drugs and substances — which the chief tells Channel 11 off-camera they often do for all deliveries to the courthouse.
There have been no issues reported in Pennsylvania.
McCloskey said his office will be open extended hours through Election Day for people to drop off ballots.
“If you’re worried about us receiving it on time by 8 p.m. on Election Day, bring it in to the courthouse if you can and drop it off in person,” McCloskey said.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
TRENDING NOW:
©2024 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
