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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Blair County leaders are offering assurance of round-the-clock vote counting of ballots beginning with the Nov. 8 election.
The Blair County Elections Board, composed of Commissioner Amy Webster as chairwoman and fellow commissioners Bruce Erb and Laura Burke, collectively voiced support Tuesday for the non-stop vote counting effort, which clears the way for the county to accept a $398,914 state grant for election-related expenses.
"I'm willing to be present for whenever I need to be, even in the middle of the night," Webster said.
Under Act 88 of 2022, state lawmakers set aside $45 million to be distributed to counties whose leaders have complained about the skyrocketing costs of running elections, especially since the state passed Act 77 in 2019 that expanded mail-in voting.
To accept the Election Integrity Grant Program funds, counties have to spend the grant money as the state allows and comply with a rule that requires round-the-clock counting.
Director of Elections Sarah Seymour said Tuesday the counting of mail-in and absentee ballots must start at 7 a.m. on Election Day and continue until all ballots are counted.
In 2020, the time involved in counting the mail-in and absentee ballots stretched over several days because of a record amount of submissions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the presidential election. But that counting was primarily accomplished during daylight hours.
For the forthcoming Nov. 8 election, Seymour said she has 7,300 applications so far. The deadline to apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot is Nov. 1.
Burke and Erb spoke of their intentions to participate in the round-the-clock counting in November so the county can accept the grant.
"It's a great help to our bottom line," Burke said.
"I absolutely support it," Erb said, as he spoke of caffeinated products that could be helpful with the overnight counting process. "It's certainly a great savings to the county in terms of covering the costs of elections that have skyrocketed."
In August, Webster offered a report during a commissioners meeting, showing that the county's cost of running the 2022 elections were projected at $855,000, more than double the 2018 expense of $355,000. The increase was traced back to Act 77.
Seymour said the county will be able to use the grant money to pay employees for additional hours or to assign additional staff to help with the ballot counting process. She also said the $398,914 is for the November election as well as the county's 2023 primary.
The state, when announcing grant recipients, named the following expenses that could be paid for with the grant:
– County costs for processing voter registration applications.
– Payment of staff at polling places on Election Day and for staff needed to pre-canvass and canvass mail-in and absentee ballots.
– Physical security and transparency costs for centralized pre-canvassing and canvassing, secure preparation, transportation, storage and management of voting apparatus, tabulation equipment and required polling place materials.
– Printing of ballots.
– Training costs for district election officials.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.