Deadlines loom for mail-in ballots, early voting for primary election on May 20

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Lebanon County voters have through Tuesday, May 13, to request a mail-in ballot for the primary election on Tuesday, May 20, or to cast their vote before Election Day at the counter voting booth. 

Sean Drasher, director of Lebanon County Elections/Voter Registration, encouraged voters to ask for their mail ballots as soon as possible to ensure they arrive and can be returned by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Drasher noted that all mail-in ballots must be in the hands of election officials when the polls close. Polls are open at Lebanon County’s 60 voting precincts from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

“Tuesday is the deadline, which is a big one for mail-in ballots, but don’t wait until Tuesday because it won’t get to you in time to mail it back to us. That’s a problem,” Drasher said. “Tuesday, close of business, we’ll stay open till 5 that night, which is only an extra half hour. But at least it gives a little bit extra time to get people in here.”

Drasher said mail-in ballot requests are way down from last fall’s presidential election, which is to be somewhat expected. That’s because the county’s 17,000 independent voters do not cast a ballot. The county currently has about 91,000 registered voters who are able to participate in this election.

“We went from around 22,000 mail-ins in the fall, and we’re at 7,400 now, going out,” Drasher said. “We are a little over 3,000 back, and they’re trickling in. So it’s not only because the number of requests plummeted, but the response rate is, for us, really low. We have a really high response rate normally. So out of the people who requested them, we’re less than 50 percent returned at this point.”

Drasher stated voter interest appears to be way down for this election cycle, which includes municipal officers and school boards. Some key contested races include those for Lebanon city mayor, Lebanon County District Attorney, and several school boards, according to Drasher. 

“Normally 13, 14 days before an election, even a slow election, there’s at least three or four people waiting to vote (at the county municipal building, which has a booth for early voting),” he said. “And it’s a couple of trays of mail (received) every day, at least a couple of trays. Each tray is like 300 (ballots). But, you know, we’re not seeing that.”

Drasher said he expects voter turnout, given Lebanon County’s rich voting tradition, to be around 35 percent of registered voters.

“I’m seeing national experts who get paid a lot more than me say we’re expecting 25, maybe even lower percentage points. I think, I don’t know, man, that sounds awfully low to me,” he said. “We have baked into the cake here, we just have, well, one, we got 7,000 or so people who will be voting early, and that counts towards the total. And so that gets your numbers up a little bit. And baked into the cake, we have a pretty good number of people on top of that who will still vote. So I would think, I would love it if we had 35% as a low but realistic expectation.” 

Counter (early) voting open

Drasher said counter voting, which can be done at the elections office on the second floor of the county municipal building, will be available to registered voters through the close of business on Tuesday, May 13, at 5 p.m. The counter voting booth is set up in the hallway just outside of the county’s election office. (The state is now referring to “early” voting as “counter” voting, according to election officials.)

“There’s early voting or they can fill out a mail ballot and submit that here if they want to do it at the office,” said Drasher. “Doing that (for mail ballot voting) allows voters to skip the postal service because they can just turn it in while here. There’s also the option of turning their mail ballot in downstairs at the (outdoor) ballot booth. A lot of people say they’ll take their ballot with them because they want to do some research about the candidate. That’s fine, too.”

LebTown has previously reported about student poll workers, and Drasher said Lebanon School District will again supply student volunteers in all 11 city precincts on May 20. 

“Keith Roland comes through for us every single election. That guy’s a machine, he’s reliable and he’s got a new crop of kids for us so all the wards in the city will have coverage,” he said, adding it’s been difficult to get enthusiasm from other school district officials for this election cycle. “We’ll try again in the fall with them. I heard we’re getting some ELCO students now but I don’t know if that’s officially a part of the school or if the students are requesting to do it on their own.”

Name that booth

LebTown had learned previously that the elections office staff was running a contest internally to name the outdoor manned booth for voters to drop off their mail-in ballots during the election season. The booth sits in the county municipal’s main parking lot and is open to accept voter mail-in ballots during regular business hours except on Election Day when it is open until 8 p.m. 

“We keep coming up with more ridiculous names,” Drasher said with a laugh. “No, no names so far but we keep bouncing them around. I wish I could sit here and give you a clever list of names off the top of my head, but I call it the ballot booth. That’s not funny, but it’s practical.”

There’s one name that’s officially off the potential list. 

“Most people (county employees) in the building call it The Shed, which is not what we love. We don’t like that name very much,” Drasher said, who immediately agreed with LebTown that the commissioners don’t care for that name either. “We’re trying to get a better name. But yeah, I don’t have anything official. Like, every time I think I hear something really clever, I’m like, “That is great, but I can’t use it,” he added with another laugh.

LebTown suggested naming it Betty Booth and, while Drasher said that was a good one, he stopped short of endorsing it. 

Election reminder

Polling precincts at all 60 Lebanon County precincts are open on Tuesday, May 20, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the primary election. Voters who choose to submit a mail ballot must have theirs in possession of election officials at the Lebanon County Municipal Building, 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon, by 8 p.m. that day. A postmark by 8 p.m. May 20 is not sufficient. 

Please note that voting precincts are prohibited from accepting voter mail-in ballots.

Voting in a primary election for party nominees is limited to only voters registered as Democratic or Republican. However, all registered voters can vote in a primary election if the ballot includes any of the following in addition to party nominees: 

• A constitutional amendment question
• Ballot question
• A special election in your district

Visit the Lebanon County election’s website or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s website for additional information.