Westmoreland County poised to scale back mail-in ballot drop boxes

Westmoreland County commissioners are expected to scale back the use of regional drop boxes for mail-in ballots in next month’s primary election.

A special meeting of the county’s Election Board is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday when commissioners will vote on a proposal to place just one drop box at the courthouse in May. There are no plans to have drop box locations in other areas.

In both the 2020 general election and the primary and general elections last year, the county placed drop boxes at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity and locations in Monessen, Murrysville, New Kensington and Youngwood. Those drop boxes were in addition to one that was available in the front lobby of the courthouse in the weeks that led up to the elections.

The proposal to be considered Monday calls for one drop box at the Lower Park entrance to the courthouse annex building on Pennsylvania Avenue on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. starting May 2; and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding Mother’s Day on May 8.

The lobby location used for the drop box in previous elections is not available because of the ongoing project to rebuild the two-level parking garage below the courthouse square and in front of the building.

Commissioner Doug Chew, a Republican, declined to comment Friday. He said he will make a public statement after Monday’s meeting. Republican Commissioner Sean Kertes did not respond to a request for comment.

Democratic Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said she favors the same regional drop box system used during the previous two election cycles.

“I support having a drop box at the courthouse, but I don’t support it being the only one. I was in favor of having the drop boxes for only one or two days throughout the county like last time,” Thrasher said.

Greg McCloskey, interim director of the county’s Election Bureau, said fewer than 2,000 ballots were deposited in drop boxes in advance of November’s general election. The courthouse drop box received about 62% of those ballots.

The regional locations, which were open during the two weekends that led up to Election Day, was sparsely used, he said. The drop box location at the Murrysville branch Westmoreland County College saw the most ballots, with 232. Meanwhile, the drop box at the county’s adult probation office in Monessen was the least used, with just 37 ballots received, McCloskey said.

In all, more than 17,000 voters cast mail-in ballots last fall.

The proposal to scale back on drop boxes comes at a time when they have become a political target throughout the United States and in Pennsylvania, where Republican state lawmakers earlier this month approved legislation to ban their use.

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said he will veto the GOP-supported bill to eliminate drop boxes.

Westmoreland County has received about 20,000 applications for mail-in ballots this spring. They will begin to be sent out to voters late next week, officials said.

McCloskey said about 15,000 mail-in ballot applications, or 75% of the total, were requested by registered Democrats.