Luzerne County has issued 66,400 mail ballots to Nov. 3 general election voters who requested them to date, county Election Director Shelby Watchilla said Wednesday evening.
That amounts to approximately 30.3% of the 219,333 county residents registered to vote.
Returned ballots are coming in fast and furious by mail or in a drop box that must be frequently emptied inside the county’s Penn Place building in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Watchilla said.
Bar codes on the outer envelopes must be scanned to record county receipt of the ballots in the state’s online tracking system. Watchilla said nearly 8,000 arrivals have been scanned so far, with the others kept in a locked room to be logged as quickly as possible.
In an online briefing Wednesday, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said she’s heard some concern from voters that their returned ballots have not yet been recorded as received by their county.
Boockvar said voters should not worry about a delay because many counties are unable to immediately process returned ballots due to the volume.
Now that most requested ballots have been sent, counties will shift more focus on addressing returns, Boockvar said.
Statewide, nearly 1.18 million returned ballots have been scanned as received by counties so far, she said.
The party breakdown of these returned ballots, according to the state: Democrat, 847,349; Republican, 227,481; and other, 104,978.
In all, 2.86 million state voters have requested mail ballots, Boockvar said, projecting the state is on track to be in the 3 million range.
Voters have less than a week, or until 5 p.m. on Oct. 27, to apply for mail ballots, although election officials are encouraging voters to apply immediately if possible.
Whether voters use mail ballots or appear at the polls on Election Day, Boockvar is predicting “very high” voter turnout.
She pointed to the state’s surpassing of an “all time high” 9 million voter milestone by Monday’s registration deadline.
More than 56,000 voter registration applications were submitted through the state’s online system on Monday alone, she said.
This year so far, the state has received 1.049 million online registration applications, she said.
In comparison, 859,000 registration applications were received in the last presidential election year, or 2016, she said, describing this year’s count as a “huge increase.”
“It’s really impressive and heartening to see so many Pennsylvanians wanting to participate,” Boockvar said.
To receive a mail ballot, voters must apply and provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number for verification by counties, Boockvar said Wednesday. Voters also are required to sign a declaration on the outer envelopes confirming they requested that ballot, she said.
”My message to voters is do not believe the hype. Do not believe the disinformation. This is incredibly safe and incredibly secure no matter how you choose to vote,” she said.
For in-person voting, the state has provided counties with masks, gloves, face shields, sneeze guards, sanitizer, paper towels, disinfectant and tape to mark off lines for social distancing, Boockvar said.
“They are going to be exceedingly safe,” she said.
Protocols and statewide response teams are in place to swiftly address any Election Day concerns that arise, she said.