Officials in Allegheny County expect higher voter turnout, thanks to mail-in ballots

Allegheny County officials are anticipating voter participation to be higher than usual for a municipal election, thanks to an influx of mail-in ballots.

As of Monday afternoon, the county said nearly 94,000 mail-ballots had been returned.

Election officials expect voter turnout to reach about 28% — much less than during the presidential election but higher than previous elections featuring similar races, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said.

“This is the first municipal election with mail-in ballots,” said Downs, “and we know that mail-in ballots have made it easier for people to vote and slightly increased participation.”

80% of early voters are Democrats

The county approved more than 142,000 applications from voters seeking early ballots as of this week, the elections division’s dashboard shows.

Of nearly 94,000 returned as of 5 p.m. Monday, the vast majority of early voters — 80% — were Democrats, according to the dashboard. Of the remaining ballots, about 13,500 were from Republicans, 124 from Libertarians, 65 from Green Party voters and more than 5,000 were from independents or other affiliations.

Last week, Pennsylvania’s chief election official urged voters who are holding onto or applying for mail-in ballots to deliver their envelopes in person — such as via the City-County Building on Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh — amid concerns over anticipated delays confronting the U.S. Postal Service.

“Obviously we don’t control the U.S. mail,” Downs said. “We always encourage people to check the ballot tracker to make sure it’s been processed and if not, there are remedies to address that.”

RELATED: Allegheny County scraps remote drop boxes for mail-in voters

Those who applied for a mail-in ballot but instead want to vote at their polling place on Election Day can do so by bringing their ballot, including its declaration envelope, and surrendering them to election workers. Those who lose their ballots will have to vote provisionally.

Per state law, voters may only return their own ballot. County staff also will look at the declaration envelope to ensure that the voter has signed and dated it.

1,300 mailed ballots not accepted

About 1,300 ballots have been flagged for errors on the outer declaration envelope, with those voters notified that they forgot to sign or date it properly, Downs said.

County officials reiterated confidence in the integrity of local election processes and reported no recent problems or concerns related to security, the machines used to prepare and count ballots, or third-party mailing errors — like the one that affected 29,000 voters leading up to the November 2020 election.

Mail-in voting became available to all of Pennsylvania’s registered voters statewide in 2020, in line with what many states have done for decades.

“The process is fully transparent,” Downs said. “Candidates as well as parties have the opportunity to view the entire process as is relates to mail-in and absentee ballots. All of the machines used at the polling places are verified and tested again in front of watchers.”

Completed ballots are secured and stored in the county elections warehouse in Pittsburgh’s North Side, where envelopes will remain locked in cages monitored 24/7 by security and video surveillance until 7 a.m. on Election Day. That is the earliest the secrecy envelope can be opened and the ballot tallied, per state law.

Voter resources

The Pennsylvania Department of State’s website has a ballot tracker application.

The state has an online tool to let voters find their polling place by entering their address here.

For more information on polling places, go to the official election pages for your county:

• Allegheny County election page

• Westmoreland County election page

• Armstrong County election page

For a list of polling locations, click here.