close

Greene elections office prepares for November election

4 min read
article image -

As the presidential election approaches, the elections manager of the Greene County Elections and Voter Registration department said requests for mail-in ballots from the office have significantly increased.

Manager Tina Kiger said mail-in voting was a popular choice for voters in the April primary, and the number of people requesting that type of ballot continues to be a popular choice for the Nov. 3 election.

“Our office usually receives an average of between 300 and 500 mail-in ballots for an election, but so far (as of Tuesday) we have received over 3,000 applications for mail-ins for the November election,” said Kiger, who has been employed at the elections office for 25 years.

For the primary, Kiger said the office sent out 3,811 mail-in and application ballots and received 3,241 of them back. She added there were very few reports of voters having issues with their ballots during the primary.

“The only challenges we encountered was making sure we had enough supplies for sending the ballots out and getting them back, and enough storage areas for the returned ballots, but we made it work,” Kiger said.

She also reported that the polling places in Greene County were “very busy” during the primary, and although there was an initial concern regarding a shortage of volunteer poll workers the office was able to rectify most of the situation.

“We were honestly surprised by how busy the polling places were for the primary, considering the COVID-19 factor,” she said. “That just shows voters felt the election was very important. And that’s why this office is anticipating a significant turnout for the November election.”

Kiger said roughly 2,200 people in Greene County have signed up to permanently receive mail-in ballots, and she expects that number to increase. She attributes the increase in requests to several key factors, including the pandemic, the interest in the presidential election and Act 77, the election reform bill signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf last October.

The purpose of Act 77 is to allow more convenient and secure voting, as most voters can now vote by mail-in ballot, and voters will have more time to register and absentee or mail-in ballots. In addition, the act provides $90 million in funding for new voting systems.

Kiger added that the office has seen a significant number of people stopping in or calling to obtain information about mail-in and absentee ballots.

“We are doing everything we can to ensure that there will be no issues for the presidential election,” she said, adding that there is concern of volunteers being hesitant to work due to the pandemic.

Anyone wishing to volunteer as a poll worker should contact the elections office at 724-852-5230.

Kiger said the county will use the same electronic voting system in November that has been used in past elections, which experienced no major issues in the primary.

She added that she is reaching out to all of the county’s polling places to make sure that each precinct will be available and see if anything needs to be addressed prior to the Nov. 3 election.

Currently, there are 21,892 registered voters in Greene County, with 10,151 registered as Democrats and 9,596 registered as Republicans. Kiger said the office has seen a significant increase in the number of registered Republicans over the years.

For the Nov. 3 election, the last day to register or make changes to voter registration is Oct. 19 by 4:30 p.m. Oct. 27 will be the last day for voters to apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot; the applications must be returned to the elections office by 5 p.m.

All absentee and mail-in ballots must be received by the office by 8 p.m. on Election Day, and those ballots will begin being counted in the office on Nov. 4. The canvass to finalize the election results is expected to begin on Nov. 6.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today