Westmoreland County’s Republican commissioners said they will not consider installation of drop boxes for mail-in ballots at the courthouse or at remote locations around the county for this spring’s presidential primary or the fall general election.

Nearly a dozen residents appeared county’s election board on Wednesday to lobby for drop boxes, which was an item that was not among the routine preparations approved for the April 23 primary.

“We did it for two years, and they (drop boxes) were under utilized,” Commissioner Sean Kertes. “The use was not there. That is the reason we got out of them.”

Kertes and Commissioner Doug Chew said the drop box issue is dead for this year. Neither said they will consider reversing course to allow drop boxes placed at locations throughout the county or at the courthouse.

No-excuse mail-in balloting was authorized for the first time in Pennsylvania in 2020. The covid-19 pandemic raised concern among officials about voters’ ability to cast ballots at the polls or have them delivered on time by the U.S. Postal Service, which had come under fire for slowdowns in delivering the mail.

More than 60,000 voters in Westmoreland County requested mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election. In response, commissioners installed drop boxes at locations in New Kensington, Murrysville, Latrobe, Youngwood and Monessen, along with another at the courthouse in Greensburg, for two weekends prior to the November 2020 presidential election.

Election Bureau Director Greg McCloskey said more than 10,000 ballots were submitted through the drop boxes during the general election four years ago, including nearly 8,000 at the one stationed at the courthouse.

Drop box usage decreased the following year. In the spring 2021 primary less than 700 ballots were submitted at drop box locations at six sites throughout the county and nearly 1,300 at the courthouse.

The municipal election that fall saw a total of 1,553 mail-in ballots submitted at drop boxes with more than half deposited at the courthouse location.

The county used just one drop box at the courthouse for the 2022 primary and again in last May with minimal use, according to election officials.

Commissioner Ted Kopas, the board’s lone Democrat, supports drop boxes. He proposed a recess of the election board meeting to consider a plan to install them for the upcoming primary. Neither Kertes nor Chew consented.

“This is not an issue of partisan politics,” Kopas said. “It’s an issue of democracy.”

Chew said taxpayers paid an average of about $30 for every ballot cast in a drop box in 2021 due to employee costs, transportation expenses and other factors.

“It’s just expensive. The election bureau is a drop box, itself,” Chew said.

Chew said cost figures for drop box use in 2020 was not available.

Allegheny County officials announced last month it will accept mail-in ballots at five satellite locations over two weekends prior to the April 23 primary.

Mail-in voters in Westmoreland County can submit mail-in ballots in person at the election bureau during courthouse business hours.

Starting April 9, the elections office will extend its hours of operation. It will remain open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

McCloskey said as of Wednesday, about 21,000 Westmoreland County voters have applied for mail-in primary ballots.

Applications will be accepted through Tuesday, April 16 — one week before the primary.

Voters urged the commissioners to reinstate the county’s drop box program.

“This is America. We need to empower people to vote. We want to lean in a direction to help people vote,” said Carl DiPietro of Murrysville.

Opposition to the use of drop boxes has been a political talking point for advocates of former President Donald Trump, who has publicly lobbied against mail-in voting in swing states such as Pennsylvania.

Susanna DeJeet of Salem told commissioners said she backed the decision to halt the use of drop boxes.

“There are so many ways to vote,” DeJeet said. “You can vote in person. For centuries, decades, people could get to the polls. They take pride in that. Drop boxes are uncensored voting. You have a drop box — it’s called a mail box.”

Chris Baldonieri of Latrobe said drop boxes would provide an additional opportunity for both Democrats and Republicans to cast ballots. She called on Kertes and Chew to reconsider their position.

Baldonieri suggested politics and not costs were primary factors in discontinuation of the program.

“You’re decision to suppress votes by having no drop boxes and no ballot curing is blatant pandering,” Baldonieri said.

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