NORRISTOWN — Preparations for the 2024 general election in Montgomery County continue with less than two weeks to go as voter services officials offered a status report Thursday.
Director of Elections Frank Dean noted ongoing efforts related to the Nov. 5 general election in an address to county commissioners. While the voter registration deadline lapsed earlier this week, he still urged voters to check their voter registration status online. Registered voters have until 5 p.m. on Oct. 29 to request a mail-in ballot, Dean said.
Dean added that Montgomery County’s eight satellite offices will have extended hours this weekend to assist voters ahead of Election Day. The offices will be open from 4-30-8:30 p.m. Monday and Friday as well as 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday in Lansdale and Pottstown and Willow Grove, as well as Abington, Franconia, Lower Merion, Upper Dublin, and Whitemarsh townships.
Dean urged patience from voters as there may be longer physical lines and waiting times for those calling voter services. Dean said the office has been receiving 3,000 calls per day.
The county voter services main office is located on the sixth floor of One Montgomery Plaza, 425 Swede St., in downtown Norristown. People with questions can call 610-278-3280 or visit montcovotes.com.
For those voting by mail, Dean said all ballots must be returned by the time the polls close on Election Day, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The mail-in ballot application requires numbers for a driver’s license, Pennsylvania identification card or social security number, Dean said, noting in his presentation that “if we are not able to verify a voter’s identity, we cannot count their ballot.”
Dean also stressed in his presentation that “voter services only mails ballots to voters who request them,” and even “if a voter fills out multiple applications they will only receive one ballot.”
Additionally, Dean said in his presentation that voters returning a mail-in ballot to a dropbox must only return their own, “unless they are acting as a ‘Designated Agent’ for a person who is disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act” and have obtained the proper designated agent form.
They must first “seal the ballot in the secrecy envelope and then put that into the larger return envelope” when returning a mail-in ballot, Dean said in his presentation.
Mail-in ballots can be returned to county satellite offices, county drop boxes or by traditional mail. Between 75 and 80 percent of mail-in ballots get returned by the U.S. Postal Service, while between 20 and 25 percent returned through a dropbox, according to Dean. Dean cautioned from “mailing it back within seven days of Election Day. However, if that is the best option for the voter, he suggested using an “any form of express form of mail” to do so.
Additionally, there are around 2,800 poll workers staffed to work at 426 polling places across Montgomery County, Dean said. For those opting to vote in person, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
“If you are voting for the first time at your polling location you will need to show ID,” Dean said, adding in his presentation that voters who’d originally requested an absentee or mail-in ballot would be able to “surrender their materials at their polling location and vote in person instead.”
At the polls, he told area residents they could expect to see poll watchers and people designated to hand out political brochures, but stressed no “politicking” or “electioneering” should be taking place.
The ballots themselves once cast have a stamp with a date and time as well as a “unique identifier” matching a voter profile.
Dean also addressed the voting machines used at the polling places, noting they underwent logic and accuracy checks prior to Election Day. The machines do not connect to the internet, he said.
After the polls close, Dean anticipated results will be refreshed online every 30 minutes, with a “giant amount” of mail-in ballots expected first, followed by in-person ballots. Results will be available on the Montgomery County and Pennsylvania Department of State websites, he said.
“Please be patient,” Dean said, adding the staff will plan to be “operating at maximum capacity” for around 24 hours.
Some ballots will remain outstanding following the tabulation process, Dean said, noting provisional, military, overseas, damaged, or ballots requiring further identify verification. A hearing for those designated ballots is expected around one week after the election, Dean said. Audits also take place prior to certification.
“We will have that certification hearing sometime around Thanksgiving,” he said.
