Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf extended the deadline for county election offices in six counties outside the Lehigh Valley to receive and count mail-in ballots, his office announced Monday evening, the eve of the state’s primary election.
Ballots mailed in Allegheny, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Montgomery and Philadelphia still must be postmarked by Tuesday in order to be counted, according to an executive order Wolf’s office issued Monday evening. But those ballots will be counted if they are received by the county election offices before 5 p.m. June 9.
Voters previously had until 8 p.m. Election Day to return their mail ballots to county election offices. Those delivering their ballots in person still must do so by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The six counties included in the executive order are part of a disaster emergency declaration Wolf signed Saturday in response to civil unrest related to protests over the death of George Floyd, a black Minnesota man who died after being pinned at the neck by a white police officer.
Wolf’s office said in a news release that the the unrest in the affected counties and resulting curfews and travel restrictions have made it more difficult to return ballots there.
Top Republican leaders in the state House and Senate issued a statement late Monday evening, expressing frustration that they were not consulted and said they were discussing with legal counsel “what steps are available to ensure the people’s trust in the election process is solidified.”
Wolf initially announced what appeared to be statewide extension during an afternoon news conference in Philadelphia, where the governor did not specify that it would apply only to voters in a handful of counties.
“I can’t do anything about the Election Day, but I am extending the time to actually get votes in,” Wolf said in the news conference. “So if you vote and the vote gets in by next Tuesday … it will count.”
The change comes as county officials have scrambled to process a tsunami of mail-ballot requests during the first election when any Pennsylvanian can vote by mail and amid public-health concerns about voting in person due to the coronavirus outbreak. Election officials in several suburban Philadelphia counties were still mailing ballots to voters late last week, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Delaware County was still mailing ballots Monday.
Washington correspondent Laura Olson can be reached at 202-780-9540 or lolson@mcall.com.
