Westmoreland elections office to open over weekend for mail-in ballots

Westmoreland County’s Election Bureau will be open this weekend to distribute ballots to voters who requested but not received their mail-in and absentee ballots for Tuesday’s primary election.

The courthouse office will operate from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to reissue ballots, said Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani.

“The deadline to apply was Tuesday (May 11), and we turned them around fast. They were out in the mail by Wednesday,” Sebastiani said. The county mailed out more than 18,500 mail-in ballots this spring. As of Wednesday, more than 5,800 had been returned.

Sebastiani said the elections office continued to receive calls Friday from voters who have yet to receive their ballots. The additional weekend hours will provide those voters the ability to ensure they are able to vote in the May 18 primary.

Voters who receive their mail-in ballots this weekend can leave them at the courthouse elections office or the drop box in the courthouse lobby. Drop boxes will also be available at Westmoreland County Community College locations in New Kensington, Murrysville and near Youngwood, as well as the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe, the county’s probation office in Monessen and at Mammoth Park in Mt. Pleasant Township.

The courthouse drop box will also be available during business hours until 6 p.m. on Monday and until the polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.