Cost savings of postponed primary in Westmoreland could be eaten up by mail-in ballots

The five-week postponement of Pennsylvania’s primary could save Westmoreland County taxpayers up to $84,000.

Commissioners said they will rescind the deal to rent ballot scanners that are no longer needed for the primary but that additional costs still could be accrued to pay for an unanticipated increase in mail-in ballots requested for the newly rescheduled June 2 primary.

“We won’t need the rentals now,” said Elections Bureau Director Beth Lechman.

Additional scanners were initially needed to cover a shortage of equipment that resulted from the March 17 special election to fill a vacancy in the 58th District of the state House.

Digital scanners, which are used to record votes from touchscreen computers and store printed and completed ballots are required to remain locked down for at least a month after each election. Commissioners in early March agreed to rent 70 scanners to be used for the primary on April 28 to make up for the machines used in the special election.

By moving the primary to the first week in June, the locked-down scanners will be available for the primary and negate the need to rent additional machines, Lechman said.

It’s a savings that might be short-lived.

Officials said an increase in the demand by voters for mail-in ballots, an option that’s available for the first time in the Pennsylvania primary, has generated additional costs.

Lechman estimated that higher costs associated with printing and mailing out ballots to voters could top $30,000 this spring.

“We’ve been told to expect as many as 30,000 mail-in ballots,” Lechman said. Westmoreland County has so far received more than 5,000 applications for mail-in ballots, including a jump of more than 1,000 in the last week.

The deadline to apply for mail in ballots for the primary is May 26. Applications can be submitted remotely on the state’s VotesPa.com website.

As state voters continue to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and orders to remain home for at least the next month, officials have recommended mail-in voting as an alternative to going out to the polls to vote in person on June 2.

Westmoreland elections officials budgeted for just 6,000 absentee ballots for the upcoming primary. The law that authorized mail-in ballots, which can be used by any registered voter, was not approved by state lawmakers until after the county’s 2020 budget was drafted.

Statewide, applications for mail-in ballots have topped 187,000 in Pennsylvania, according to the governor’s office. That is an increase of about 58,000 over the last week.