Each week day Venango County employees Sabrina Backer and Melanie Bailey clean out the ballot return box at the front of the annex building.
Backer, who serves as the Chief Clerk/County Administrator/Director of Elections, said they've had to cram the carrying trays full of voting envelopes many times in the past few weeks.
Thursday around 1 p.m., they collected approximately 50 more sealed envelopes. "This was small," Bailey said.
Inside Backer's office is a locked cabinet containing over 5,000 votes And that number is growing every day as election draws nearer. Only five days away.
In 2016, the only mail-in ballots were absentee ballots. They had 1,269 that year that saw a nearly 73% voter turnout overall.
This year, with mail-in ballots being accepted for the first time from folks opting out of in-person voting, Backer said they received requests for 7,627 voting packets. Of those sent to voters, a little more 5,600 have been returned to be counted.
Backer said anyone those who requested a mail-in ballot but do not return it, can still vote in person, but they must take the ballot and return envelopes with them to their polling place on Tuesday.
The mail-in ballot must be accounted for and cancelled out in order for the person to vote in person.
Backer, who serves as the Chief Clerk/County Administrator/Director of Elections, said they've had to cram the carrying trays full of voting envelopes many times in the past few weeks.
Thursday around 1 p.m., they collected approximately 50 more sealed envelopes. "This was small," Bailey said.
Inside Backer's office is a locked cabinet containing over 5,000 votes And that number is growing every day as election draws nearer. Only five days away.
In 2016, the only mail-in ballots were absentee ballots. They had 1,269 that year that saw a nearly 73% voter turnout overall.
This year, with mail-in ballots being accepted for the first time from folks opting out of in-person voting, Backer said they received requests for 7,627 voting packets. Of those sent to voters, a little more 5,600 have been returned to be counted.
Backer said anyone those who requested a mail-in ballot but do not return it, can still vote in person, but they must take the ballot and return envelopes with them to their polling place on Tuesday.
The mail-in ballot must be accounted for and cancelled out in order for the person to vote in person.
For Backer and her extended crew, work to start processing the mail-ins will be begin at 7 a.m. election day. "I hope to be done by noon," Backer said.
Additional staff has been hired to help and Backer said that if they push hard they can process about 12 ballots a minute.
The votes will not be tabulated until after polls close at 8 p.m.
Backer expects the unofficial Venango County results will be known on election night. The official numbers will be known a few days later, as mail-in votes are still be eligible as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
As for the added workload this year, Backer said she and her staff are taking it in stride. With the extra help they are keeping up on the work thus far.
"We're busy but holding up well, looking forward to a day off in the next couple of weeks," she said.
Additional staff has been hired to help and Backer said that if they push hard they can process about 12 ballots a minute.
The votes will not be tabulated until after polls close at 8 p.m.
Backer expects the unofficial Venango County results will be known on election night. The official numbers will be known a few days later, as mail-in votes are still be eligible as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
As for the added workload this year, Backer said she and her staff are taking it in stride. With the extra help they are keeping up on the work thus far.
"We're busy but holding up well, looking forward to a day off in the next couple of weeks," she said.
Polls open at 7a.m. Tuesday November 3, 2020. They close at 8 p.m.
RSS Feed