Lancaster County’s voter registration numbers have reached record highs and are continuing to climb, Chief Elections Clerk Christa Miller told the Board of Elections on Wednesday.
As of mid-morning Wednesday, the county had 358,030 registered voters, exceeding the previous record of roughly 354,000, set in 2020. People can continue to register to vote for about three more weeks: The deadline to register before the Nov. 5 election is Monday, Oct. 21.
Meanwhile, the county has received 46,016 requests for mail-in ballots, a number that will also continue to rise, Miller said. The county is projecting 60,000 to 70,000 mail-in ballot requests, and it’s “right on track” for that range, she said.
The last day to request a mail-in ballot is Oct. 29, one week before Election Day.
The Board of Elections, which is comprised of the three county commissioners, met Wednesday to complete two routine items of business: Signing off on polling place changes for Election Day, Nov. 5; and setting the range for the dates on mail-in ballots.
Under current law, mail-in ballots must arrive in envelopes that are signed and dated, and the date must fall between when they were mailed out and Election Day.
Lancaster County began mailing out military and overseas ballots on Friday, Miller said, so the valid date range will be Sept. 20 through Nov. 5, 2024.
The date requirement remains a subject of litigation. Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out a lower court decision that voided the requirement. On Wednesday, the voting rights groups involved in that lawsuit filed a new one, again seeking to have the requirement thrown out.
As for polling place changes, the county is relocating three polling places, and one site has a new name, as follows:
Lancaster City – Fourth Ward, First Precinct
From: Teen Haven
205 S Queen St., Lancaster, PA 17603
To: The Lord’s House of Prayer
133 E Vine St., Lancaster, PA 17602
Lancaster City – Sixth Ward, Fourth Precinct
From: Ebenezer Baptist Church
701 N Lime St., Lancaster, PA 17602
To: Otterbein United Methodist Church
20 E Clay St., Lancaster, PA 17602
Lancaster Township – Third District (name change only)
From: Lancaster Township Fire Dept.
125 Fairview Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603
To: Cristo Luz de Salvacion
125 Fairview Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603
Providence Township – East District
From: Smithville Church of God
595 Pennsy Road, New Providence, PA 17560
To: Providence Church, 269 Cinder Road
New Providence, PA 17560
The board approved them after a brief hearing. Miller confirmed that postcards will go out to voters in those precincts and districts, informing them of the changes.
Mail-in ballots are on track to go out starting next week, she said. Beginning Monday, Oct. 7, the Elections Office at the County Government Center will open its in-person early voting, allowing voters to request their ballots at the reception desk, fill them out and return them directly to office staff.
The county’s logic and accuracy testing of its ballot scanners began Monday and was expected to wrap up Wednesday, Miller said. It has gone “very well,” she said.
Under state election law, Republican and Democratic representatives are allowed to observe the testing, as are registered citizens’ organizations. Miller previously said that invitations had been sent to the two county party committees and the group PA Fair Elections; only the Democrats attended, she said Wednesday.
Notification and provisional ballots
Following the board’s vote and Miller’s updates, members of the public asked about the county’s policy on “notice and cure” — that is, if a mail-in ballot is submitted with clerical mistakes, such a missing date, is the voter notified and given a chance to fix it?
Among them was Ricardo Almodovar, an organizer with ACLU Pennsylvania. Following up on comments he made last week, he presented petitions calling for ballot drop boxes and the implementation of notice and cure.
If a mail-in ballot is rejected, Lancaster County has always provided notification through the state’s online voter services portal, commissioners Ray D’Agostino and Josh Parsons said. Instead of correcting it, though, voters are given the opportunity to vote by provisional ballot. That accords with the state election code and with a court case that was decided Monday, they said.
Jody Blouch, a judge of elections, suggested that it might help reassure voters if the county posted copies of the oath taken by poll workers. That’s a good idea, D’Agostino said, suggesting the oath could be made available on the Board of Elections web page.
