Mail In Ballots Not Ready

It's 50 days until the November 5th, and in Pennsylvania that's the earliest date by law that voters could cast mail in or early ballots.

But right now, no one is voting early yet, because the ballots are not finalized.

Here in Erie County, sample ballots are still being drawn up and proofed.

Tonia Fernandez, Erie County Director of Elections said she hopes to have the finalized ballots ready to mail out by early October.  That means voters would have them with plenty of time to return them by mail or drop them in the county drop box outside the Erie County Courthouse.

"We're hoping to start sending the ballots out in early October, so we're expecting that voters will receive them around mid October," she said. "And if you want to vote early, which we're no calling on demand mail balloting, when you come into the office and apply for a ballot, we're hoping that will start in early October as well."

You may have heard that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled last week, reversing the Commonwealth Court.  The high court decided that PA won't count mail in ballots with mistakes on the outer or declaration envelope.

Fernandez had this advice on how to make sure your mail in ballot will count.  "So if you want to be sure that your vote's counted, no matter what the courts decide, then sign and date your declaration. And make sure that you date it today's date, the date that you sign it, so we're not using our birth date, we want to make sure that you're signing it within the valid dates for mail ballots to be accepted," Fernandez said.


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