235,000 Ballots Now Mailed Out In Montco: Latest Election Updates

NORRISTOWN, PA — A total of 235,723 mail-in ballots are now on the way to voters in Montgomery County, as a historic and bizarre 2020 election continues. Thousands of applications are still being received and processed in the county ahead of the Oct. 27 deadline, and thousands more are being mailed out every day.

This means that around 43,000 ballots have been sent out in the county in the last two weeks, since the first wave of 192,000 ballots finished mailing out on Wednesday, Oct. 7. There have been about 250,500 ballot applications approved thus far, meaning that all but 15,000 ballots have already been mailed out.

Yet still, many residents are still waiting for their ballots, and have expressed concerns after they saw a "mailed by" Sept. 21 date on the Pennsylvania Department of State's ballot tracking site. According to Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, that date should be ignored.

"They are on their way," Arkoosh said of the ballots. "That date was generated when a list of ballots to be printed was created."

>>Montgomery County Ballot Drop-Box Locations 2020

The county elections office said they are receiving thousands of calls a day from residents concerned about where their ballot is, or with other questions about this year's voting process.

No ballots were sent out until Sept. 30, a date that was delayed by a lawsuit filed to keep the Green Party off the ballot in Pennsylvania.

Regardless, if you applied for a ballot in Montgomery County before Sept. 20, your ballot is definitely in the mail, officials said. Applications received after that date might still be in the process of being sorted and approved, but they're probably in the mail already.

Not only should the Sept. 21 "mailed by" date be ignored, but the ballot tracking software used by the state might not be updating in a timely fashion, officials warn. Just because the tracker hasn't updated, does not mean that your ballot hasn't been sent out or received.

With two weeks still to go until Election Day, the 235,723 ballots mailed out in Montgomery County already represents a record number. There were 126,000 mail-in votes in the county for the June primary, which was itself a record.

There are 604,237 registered voters in Montgomery County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. All of them will not cast their ballots in 2020, but the numbers thus far suggest that the mail-in ballots could account for roughly half of the voter turnout in general election in Montgomery County.

Meanwhile, a total of 87,234 ballots have already been received by voter services as of Monday. Ballots can either be mailed in or dropped off at one of several locations around the county. See here for a full list of drop-off locations.

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a ruling on Monday night, Pennsylvania now has an extra three days after Election Day to count these ballots, an unprecedented and Herculean task for local election officials.

>>'Black Box' On Montco Mail-In Ballots Is Okay, Officials Say

Another issue that has arisen is the "black box," a rectangle blacking out the address in the window slot of ballot envelopes. This no reason to worry, according to authorities. Both the US Postal Service and the Pennsylvania Department of State approved the envelope format, which prints the address out twice on the front of the envelope. But the Postal Service asked Montgomery County officials to cover up the second address on the window screen to "avoid any confusion" for postal carriers.

The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania was Monday, Oct. 19. As long as you're registered to vote in Pennsylvania, you can still request a mail-in ballot online until Oct. 27. Polls will be open for in-person voting on Election Day, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.