Post Office Controversy Leads To State Lawsuit, Worries About Counting All Ballots
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The U.S. Postal Service is warning Pennsylvania that some of its mail-in ballots may be mailed too late for the Post Office to deliver them in time to be counted.
That has led state officials to ask the state Supreme Court for more time to receive and count late ballots.
The Post Office says if you want your ballot to get counted, mail it in at least 7 days before Election Day.
But under state law, that date (this year, October 27) is also the last day to apply for a mail-in ballot. So if you wait that long, no guarantee it will get counted.
"We have the ability to apply for a mail-in ballot up to a week before the election, but the Post Office can't guarantee delivery of it," Allegheny County Councilman Sam DeMarco, a Republican member of the county's election board, told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Friday.
One solution: Apply now for your ballot.
WATCH: KDKA's Jon Delano Has More
"They have the ability to apply for a ballot today. It's August, and on September 14th ballots will then be sent out to them from the Division of Elections. So they have 50 days before the election in which to vote by mail," says DeMarco.
PA Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, the state's top election official agrees. It's only those who wait until late October to vote who risk the tight deadlines.
But Boockvar has gone to the state Supreme Court, asking that ballots postmarked by election day (this year, November 3) but not received by county election officials until the Friday after (November 6) still be counted.
"I think it's a great idea," says Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, a Democratic member of the county's election board.
"Again, as long as the ballot is postmarked by election day. That means the voter submitted their vote in time before the 8 pm deadline on Election Day."
Boockvar says because the Post Office cannot deliver mail in their normal one-to-three day time period, not extending the deadline risks disenfranchising a significant number of voters, adding that 19 states already allow this kind of late counting.
If the state Supreme Court agrees and extends the deadline for receipt and counting ballots, we may not know who won Pennsylvania for many days.
Last-minute mail voters worried about the Postal Service have two other options -- one, drop off your ballot in person at each county's drop box, or, two, take your ballot and vote in person on Election Day.
