Butler County officials say there is now an active investigation underway into issues surrounding postal service that caused the delay in delivering mail-in ballots.
“It appears as though there may have been some challenges with two particular dates where mail went out of [the county’s] office,” Osche said. “So the post office has confirmed that the mail came to the Butler Post Office and went to a Pittsburgh (post office) location. But most of the voters that are calling in; there are two dates that seem to be key that those folks did not receive their ballot by mail.”
Director of Elections Aaron Sheasley confirmed the investigation at Wednesday morning’s county commissioner meeting.
“There’s no concrete data available right now to know how many people were impacted by this,” Sheasley said.
Osche says if you haven’t gotten your mail-in ballot yet, there are a number of options for you to consider.
“The preferred method is to contact our office. Ask for another ballot; and you can do that by emailing ballots@co.butler.pa.us. They will prepare a new ballot for you that you can pick up in the lobby, and you can cast your ballot right there,” Osche said.
There’s also the option to visit your polling location on Election Day—or the county will deliver your ballot to you. However, the election deputies will not be able to return that ballot.
“No one else can turn in your ballot for you,” Osche said. “You can either put it in the mail or there is a ballot drop off station inside the lobby so you don’t have to wait in line.”
To view the status of your ballot, you can visit the state’s website here.
However, Sheasley also said that they have received a number of mail-in ballots from voters, but the state’s website may not reflect that information.
“At this point, our main concentration has been getting the ballots to the people,” Sheasley said. “Since that deadline has now passed, we’ll start scanning mail-in ballots to indicate that they have been received.”
Commissioner Leslie Osche joined WISR 680 AM Wednesday morning. Hear the full interview below:
