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Drop off ballot box gone from Venango County

9/14/2022

1 Comment

 
Edited to correct name spelling mistake and add a title that was accidentally cut in editing.
Picture
File photo from 2020
 This story was first published in The Titusville Herald
Tuesday the Venango County Commissioners voted to discontinue the use of the ballot return drop box that was introduced during the COVID-restriction 2020 election.
 
The box sat, securely locked, outside the Venango County Courthouse Annex.

“We’re just trying to get ahead of this,” said commissioner Mike Dulaney, who added that the state is moving towards eliminating use of ballot drop boxes.
“It’s a local decision,” Sabrina Backer Director of Election for Venango County noted.
​
Venango County Democrat chairperson John Kluck said he is in the process of composing a letter to the county board of elections disagreeing with the decision.

“We completely object to removing the boxes. There were zero problems locally using them, so why remove the boxes at all?”
Backer said of all the mail-in ballots received last election, only about 10% were dropped in the box. She confirmed there were no irregularities in the county during the last elections using the drop boxes.
 
During Tuesday’s regular commissioners meeting, Commissioners Sam Breene and Delaney voted to stop using the boxes. Commissioner Albert “Chip” Abramovic voted against the motion. The election board is meeting Friday morning(Sept. 16) at 9 a.m. to discuss voter registration challenges Backer said,

Mike Wilcox of Oil Region Rising is trying to get a group together to attend the meeting saying he wants to ask the board why they acted to remove the boxes.
​
Though the drop boxes won't used, Backer said if someone is planning to vote by mail-in ballot and fears they waited too long to mail and meet the arrival deadline, they can bring their ballot and envelope to their polling place. There the mail-in ballot would be voided and they can vote in person. She also said that on Election Day, November 8, Venango County Courthouse annex room 100 will be open for people to drop off their ballots before 8 p.m. 
 
The last day to register to vote is October 24. Deadline for requesting a mail-in ballot is November 1. All completed mail-in ballots must be received at the courthouse by 8 p.m. November 8.  
 
​
1 Comment
Joyce L Covell
9/17/2022 03:21:26 pm

I am sorry that I just saw this request for comments regarding mail-in ballots and didn't get it submitted before your meeting yesterday. It looks like the Commissioners are trying to make it more difficult to vote again. Ever since the Republican legislators agreed to "no fault" mail-in ballots several years ago, they have been regretting it and trying to tear it down.

A relative in Butler County had an experience with switching from mail-in ballot to in-person during the 2020 election. Because of covid, she had applied for a mail-ballot. For some reason she decided to change and go to vote in-person on election day. As I am sure many other people have done, she didn't read the instructions fully and did not take the envelopes with her to the polling place. She was given a "provisional" ballot and her vote for Joe Biden was never counted. She is not a stupid person and has an MBA from Penn State. However, she as many other people, who have busy lives w/work, kids and covid, didn't follow the convoluted voting instructions. To her knowledge, her vote was never counted.

My husband and I saw an article in The Titusville Herald similar to the blurb above. The Herald article mentioned that Covid was declining. And how long will that be...until a new variant arises that doesn't respond to the vaccines? We are both in our 70s and have voted "in person" at the Courthouse Annex over the last couple of years. I didn't see any mention of this in either The Herald article or this posting. Will we still be able to bring our ballots in to the Venango County Election Office? Frankly, we do not trust the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, and have read that he has more cuts in store for the postal system.

So, if there were no problems with the drop box, we are not quite sure why the county feels the need to make things more difficult for 10% of the voters in Venango County. OR Is it all about restricting the number of mail-in ballot voters, who are more likely to be Democrats?

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