Over-the-counter voting begins for Allegheny County election

Voters in Allegheny County can vote early in the upcoming general election starting Tuesday in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Registered voters can complete a mail-in ballot application, get approved, and then fill out and turn in their ballot on the spot at the County Office Building in Downtown Pittsburgh. A kiosk is located on the first floor of the building, and is staffed by election department staff.

The County Office Building is located at 542 Forbes Ave. in Downtown Pittsburgh. The voting kiosk is open during regular business hours – Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Over-the-counter voting has been available in Allegheny County over the last few years and was made possible by the state’s no-excuse, mail-in voting law.

People wanting to vote over the counter who are registered to vote and haven’t already applied for a mail-in ballot have until 5 p.m. on Oct. 31 to do so. That is the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot. After Oct. 31, voters can still turn in mail-in ballots at the kiosk in the County Office Building up until 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 7, but should have already applied for a mail-in ballot.

Allegheny County officials are reminding voters using mail-in ballots to place their completed ballot in the secrecy envelope and to leave any markings off the secrecy envelope. The secrecy envelope should then be placed in the declaration envelope, and then sign and date the declaration envelope. The county said the date on the ballot must be a correct date, or the ballot will also be set aside and not counted, based on recent court cases.

A voter’s record is updated after a mail-in ballot is returned to the county election division. Those voted ballots are then secured by the election division before being transported to the county’s election warehouse, where they are stored in a locked room which is also under camera surveillance, said county officials. At 7 a.m. on Election Day, election staff may begin to open and count the ballots.

As of noon Tuesday, 117,376 voters have been approved for a mail-in or absentee ballot in Allegheny County. Of those, 92,469 are Democrats, 16,522 are Republicans, and 8,385 are registered as another affiliation.