Mail-in ballot applications sent to voters as questions remain ahead of May primary

About 350,000 applications for mail-in ballots were sent to voters in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties over the past two weeks as local election officials prepare for a May primary election in the midst of uncertainty over the legality of the state’s voting laws and jurisdictions of congressional and state legislative districts.

“It’s business as usual,” said Greg McCloskey, the interim director of Westmoreland County’s Election Bureau.

The office sent 55,000 applications last week to voters who requested mail-in ballots. Alle­gheny County mailed about 295,000 applications to voters through Feb. 4, with about 25,000 requests for ballots already returned, spokeswoman Amie Downs said.

Staff in Greensburg worked this week to sort thousands of applications from voters seeking no-excuse mail-in ballots for the May 17 primary. More than 9,000 applications were submitted in the past week, McCloskey said.

No-excuse mail-in balloting was implemented before the 2020 election under a state law passed a year earlier. A handful of Republican state lawmakers, including several who voted in favor of the election law, filed a lawsuit last year claiming the election changes were unconstitutional and seeking to halt no-excuse mail-in balloting.

In January, the state’s Commonwealth Court agreed and found the law unconstitutional. But provisions of the law, including the option for no-excuse mail-in voting, remain in place for the spring primary as an appeal is litigated before the state Supreme Court.

McCloskey said the mail-in balloting procedures in place during the past two years will remain, for now.

The deadline to apply for mail-in ballots for the primary is May 10. They can be requested from county election offices or through the state’s online application portal.

Mail-in applications to vote remotely in a special election to fill a vacancy in the state House’s 24th District in Allegheny County are due March 29. That election, to replace Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey in the state House of Representatives, is April 5. The 24th district includes Wilkinsburg and eastern Pittsburgh neighborhoods, including Homewood, East Liberty, Highland Park, and Garfield.

The state Supreme Court last week halted candidates from circulating nominating petitions for the primary as it considers legal challenges to proposed new maps to redistrict Pennsylvania’s congressional districts and boundaries for state Senate and House seats.

Tuesday was the day set for candidates to begin the three-week process required to appear on the primary ballots. Revised dates for the petition process have not been announced.