PHILADELPHIA (WLVT) — As of Friday afternoon, the Butler County Bureau of Elections, located one hour north of Pittsburgh, reported that over 10,000 county residents called its office saying mail-in ballots they requested were never received.
If you didn’t receive a mail-in ballot or misplaced your ballot, Pennsylvania allows voters to cast in-person provisional ballots on Election Day. Provisional ballots are counted after all in-person and absentee/mail-in ballots are tallied, to assure no voter casts two ballots.
So, what if you wake up with symptoms of COVID-19 on Election Day, or have a last-minute emergency? Under state law, voters are permitted to file an Emergency Absentee Ballot online. You’ll need to print it out and assign a designee to drop it off at your polling location before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
For those with COVID symptoms, it’s highly recommended that you stay home and find a designee for the emergency ballot drop off. If you can’t do that, call your county election office and request that a county official delivers your ballot.
"If you were planning to go in-person and you can’t make it, or if you are sick and you need to quarantine, use an Emergency Absentee Ballot. You can print one on VotesPA.com. It’s hard to change plans last-minute, but there are absolutely options for voters. This election is too important to sit out," Suzanne Almeida, who heads up Common Cause PA, told PBS39.
Her group is one of 18 nonpartisan organizations around the state that banded together to form an Election Protection coalition for Pennsylvania, which works to ensure voters have access to the polls.
Almeida says voters who need assistance on Tuesday should call or text the coalition’s toll-free hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE.