I attend Bethany Hallam’s voter zoom meetings every Tuesday evening (Bethany is a great Allegheny County Board of Elections member) so this is up-to-date information on your voting options with the election only a few days away.

- If you requested a Mail-in Ballot but didn’t receive one, you can go downtown to the Elections Office, 6th floor, County Office Building, and they can re-issue your ballot there, and you can fill your votes in (privately) and turn the ballot in immediately. Elections Office hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on Thurs Oct. 29, Fri Oct 30, Mon Nov 2, and Tues Nov 3. The Elections Office is NOT open this weekend.

- If you need to return your Mail-in ballot, it is too late to mail it and be sure it will get there in time. You also CANNOT return your Mail-in Ballot at your polling place. Therefore, THE ONLY GOOD OPTION FOR RETURNING YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT RIGHT NOW is to TAKE IT DOWNTOWN to the County Office Building, where you can drop it off in the LOBBY on the first floor. This lobby drop off area downtown is open late and on the weekend. Lobby hours are: 8 am to 8 pm every day (including Saturday and Sunday) now through November 2, and 7 am to 8 pm on November 3. The County also says: "Voters who have made errors on or misplaced their security or declaration envelopes may get replacements at the window.” Note: They are only talking about the envelopes NOT the ballot itself, which can only be replaced upstairs at the Elections Office during the day on a weekday.

- If you are dropping off your ballot downtown, there is free parking on Forbes Avenue next to the back entrance of the County Office Building and guards to direct you where you can park with flashers so you can run in and hand in your ballot and get the cute little I Voted Sticker. I did this on a Wednesday afternoon and it was easy.

- Remember you can only drop off YOUR OWN ballot, not your husband’s or anyone else’s. But he can wait in the car while you go in, and you can wait in the car while he goes in, or with the flashers on, you can both go in at the same time.

- Every polling place (there are 1,323 polling places in Allegheny County) is open on Election Day, Nov. 3 from 7 am to 8 pm. Most of these are your old regular polling place, but a few have had to change because of Covid. The County is sending you a letter telling you where your polling place is located. You can also verify your polling place using this link I’ve copied from an Allegheny Votes e-mail: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/pages/pollingplaceinfo.aspx. The state’s site is set up to use your mailing address, NOT your municipality.

- If you have NOT requested a Mail-in Ballot, you can go to your polling place and vote normally on a paper ballot that you will scan into the new voting machines. Because of Covid, it is best to wear a mask and take your own blue or black ballpoint pen to mark your ballot (not a sharpie or felt-tip pen). Also take food and water in case you need to wait in line.

- If you did request a Mail-in Ballot, you CANNOT vote at the polls normally unless you return your ballot (3 pieces: the ballot itself, the inner security envelope, and the outer declaration envelope) and have poll workers spoil it. It is NOT RECOMMENDED that you have your ballot spoiled and vote in person at the polls. Here’s why Bethany suggests that you do NOT spoil your ballot.

1. Returned Mail-in Ballots will be the first ballots counted in Allegheny County. They will be counted BEFORE the ballots voted at the polls because the County will start counting Mail-in Ballots at 7 am on Election Day, and they expect to finish counting the Mail-in Ballots within 10-11 hours, which is before the polls close. Results from the polls won’t be counted until the polls close.

2. Spoiling a ballot takes time, which could be as much as 10-15 minutes. If poll workers have to spoil a ballot so you can vote, other voters are waiting longer in line. If a lot of voters have their ballots spoiled, a lot of other voters will wait in line a lot longer. By afternoon this past Tuesday, Allegheny County had approved and sent out 410,909 mail-in ballots. At that point, only 269,118 of these had been returned. If all or most of those non-returned ballots have to be spoiled at the polls, voters could be there waiting in line a very very very long time.

- If you requested a Mail-in Ballot and don't return all 3 pieces to be spoiled, you CANNOT vote normally at the polls. You can however vote a Provisional Ballot. While it will take some time for a Provisional Ballot to be counted (the County needs time—up to 7 days—to determine whether you are eligible to vote and whether you have voted in some other way), you should NOT leave the polls without at least voting a Provisional Ballot. When you vote provisionally, they will give you a numbered receipt that enables you to check online to see if your Provisional Ballot was counted. If you mailed your Mail-in ballot but are concerned that it won’t arrive in time to be counted, you could go to the polls and vote a Provisional Ballot. However, a better option is NOT to mail your Mail-in ballot but to take your Mail-in ballot in person to the drop box in the lobby of the County Office Building downtown (see above).

- If you need a ride to or from the polls on Election Day, you can get a free ride by calling B-PEP at 412-434-0919 or VEEEM at 412-242-1998. VEEEM asks that you call 24 hours in advance.

- If you experience or see any voter intimidation at the polls, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE. This number is run by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civll Rights under Law. There are also people doing Election Protection outside many of the polls. You can also call voter intimidation to the attention of the Judge of Elections or other poll workers including the Constable inside the polls even if it is happening outside.

janet jai, MLA

Vision and Values

https://vision-and-values.com

Author, Saving Our Public Libraries: Why We Should. How We Can, and Tree’s Song (for Jenni) about the lifelong love between a girl and a tree.