“Struggle” in Union County; most mail ballots returned in Montour

Nov. 4—LEWISBURG — Most mail-in ballots were returned to county offices the day before the election, election officials said.

Election officials and election officials in Union County are stressed but ready for Election Day, according to Elections Director Greg Katherman.

On Monday, Katherman attended a public meeting of the Union County Board of Elections to provide commissioners with final information on the status of the election. Polling stations will open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, November 5.

“It was a struggle,” Katherman said. “There are many questions and problems.”

Republicans’ insistence on voting in person has made it difficult, something Katherman said no election board in the state would be prepared for.

“It’s a question on demand,” Kateman said. “There is no early voting in Pennsylvania. We have early voting on demand, which means you can come in and request a ballot. This is the most we’ve ever had in this category.”

While voters weren’t unhappy, Katherman said trying to do this as efficiently as possible takes effort.

In Union County, 5,944 mail-in ballots were requested and the Board of Elections received 5,333 completed mail-in ballots.

“It’s almost equivalent to (the last presidential election in 2020), which is amazing,” Katherman said. “It was probably very low a month ago.”

Katherman said many voters have come into the office over the past three weeks to fill out mail-in ballots. Officials will begin opening mail-in ballots and counting them starting at 7 a.m.

The district is home to approximately 27,000 voters, 2,000 of whom are registered for the first time.

The Election Commission also voted to approve a list of 50 qualified registered voters and appoint them as precinct election commissioners on Election Day.

In Montour County, most mail-in ballots had been received by Monday, officials said. A

A total of 2,880 mail-in ballots were requested in Montour County, 2,606 of which were returned to the county board of elections, according to Assistant Elections Director Ryan Craig.

Northumberland County mailed out 9,763 ballots and received 8,545 back by Monday, Clerk Nate Savage said.

Savage said the county is prepared for Election Day and has emergency procedures in place.

“There are additional backups of paper ballots, teams traveling around the county and people available to scan ballots throughout the day,” he said.

Northumberland County Commissioner Sam Schiccatano said he doesn’t foresee any problems in the election.

“We don’t expect anything to happen,” he said. “We conduct elections smoothly for a long time, but if (a problem) arises, we take several security measures. We have people on duty and everything is covered.”