Nearly 120K OK’ed to vote by mail, absentee in Allegheny County; Tuesday marks deadline to apply

Allegheny County elections officials on Friday urged voters who want to vote by mail in the May 18 primary to do so as soon as possible so their applications can be received and processed by Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline.

The county has approved 118,195 applications from voters seeking early ballots as of this week, the elections division’s dashboard shows. The voters included about 93,300 Democrats, 17,600 Republicans and 7,300 of other parties or independents.

The fastest way to apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot is to do so online at the county’s elections division website or VotesPA.com/ApplyMailBallot. Voters also can apply in person at the county elections office in Downtown Pittsburgh, on the sixth floor of 542 Forbes Ave., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Monday or Tuesday.

Over-the-counter applications will be processed on site and voters will be provided with ballots and all materials to vote, officials said. Elections staff also can assist if a ballot has not been received, an error was made or a ballot was damaged.

New polling locations for 40K homes

Letters started going out earlier this week to about 40,000 households whose polling places will be different this month than they were in November’s presidential election.

In addition to the city of Pittsburgh, among other areas where polling places have changed: Avalon, Baldwin Borough, Bellevue, Brentwood, Clairton, East Pittsburgh, Emsworth, Franklin Park, Ingram, Ohio, Penn Hills, Pine, Robinson, Ross, South Fayette, Springdale Borough, Upper St. Clair, West Mifflin and White Oak.

Earlier this week, county officials said they still have a need for poll workers, including in Franklin Park, Kennedy, North Versailles, Port Vue, Whitaker and White Oak, along with Pittsburgh’s 13th, 118th and 28th wards.

All 1,323 polling places will be open on May 18.

Voters will be asked to wear a mask. Officials said those who do not show up wearing a face covering will be offered one.

Voters who apply for mail-in ballots but decide instead to vote in person at their designated polling location should bring their ballot and declaration envelope and surrender them to poll workers. If those materials have been lost, such voters have to vote by provisional ballots.

RELATED: Your guide to Pa.’s 2021 primary ballot questions

Reminder: Put a stamp on mail-in ballot envelopes

Ballots will require a stamp to be processed and people should include their return address on the envelope. Although the envelopes are oversized, they only require one stamp.

Starting on Wednesday, May 12, a ballot return box will be available in the lobby of the County Office Building, 542 Forbes Ave.

Ballots will be accepted between 8:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. May 12 through 14; from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 15; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 16; 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 17 and 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 18 (Election Day).

For more information about becoming a poll worker, click here.

For a list of voting locations or to find out where to vote, click here.

RELATED: Drop box added at Murrysville location ahead of May 18 primary