Westmoreland County says mail-in ballot backlog cleared

Westmoreland County officials reported all but about 4,100 requested mail-in ballots have been sent to voters.

The county elections bureau said as of Wednesday morning, more than 64,600 ballots were mailed, clearing a backlog of requests caused by delays at the Cleveland company hired to print and mail them.

“The backlog is cleared,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

No ballots were mailed Tuesday and officials were not able to say if any were sent on Wednesday.

The county has processed and approved 68,745 ballots to be mailed for the Nov. 3 general election. It will continue to accept applications through Tuesday, Oct.27.

Midwest Direct Presort Mailing, the Ohio company hired by the county to mail ballots, has come under fire in recent weeks over delays caused by printing issues involving both Westmoreland and Allegheny counties as well as more than a dozen counties in Ohio.

The company this week issued a statement that it has caught up with the backlog and has mailed more than 1 million ballots in two states.

“We appreciate the work the Postal Service has done to make sure voters receive their ballots promptly,” said Richard T. Gebbie, the company’s chief executive officer. “Throughout the entire process, we have seen one- to two-day delivery to the voters in the counties we serve. We are up-to-date with all ballot orders as of yesterday and we anticipate time fulfillment as we move through the rest of the vote-by-mail process, which will continue through Saturday, Oct. 31, the last day of mailing.

“We are proud of our team’s efforts in processing this unprecedented number of ballots in the short time we had to complete them, and we thank them for their diligent efforts. We brought in extra staff, expanded hours and added equipment to meet the staggering volume of mail-in ballot requests for this election.

“In many cases, we processed three times the volume of requests the county board of elections anticipated.”

Gebbie also addressed criticism that came last week after national media reports that company owners were supporters of President Donald Trump.

“For the 10 years we’ve been producing ballots, Midwest has never held or prioritized ballot printing for any reason. This year, we processed every ballot without regard to party, geography or county, as we always do. Any suggestion that our personal political beliefs prompted us to slow down ballot production and distribution is absolutely false,” Gebbie said in the statement.

On Wednesday, Westmoreland County reported more than 24,600 voters returned completed mail-in ballots.

Collections will continue for the next two weeks both in person and through the mail.

The county’s first drop box location at the courthouse in Greensburg opened Wednesday. Voters will be able to drop off their completed ballots there daily from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Nov. 3.

Additional drop boxes will be available to voters over the next two weekends from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop boxes will be available on Oct. 24 and Nov. 1 at Westmoreland County Community College in New Kensington, Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity and the county’s probation office in Monessen.

Drop boxes will be open on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31 at the community college building in Murrysville and the college’s Student Achievement Center on its Youngwood campus.