Luzerne County confirms primary mail ballots have been sent

Luzerne County’s Election Bureau issued a release Tuesday confirming April 23 primary election ballots have been mailed to 23,000 county voters that requested them to date.

County Acting Election Director Emily Cook said the bureau was informed some voters already have received their ballots.

Cook encouraged voters to check the status of their ballot at www.pavoterservices.pa.gov.

Completed ballots must be physically in the election bureau by 8 p.m. on Election Day, and postmarks do not count.

The state deadline to apply for mail ballots is April 16, although officials always urge interested voters to request them sooner if possible because that date is only one week before the primary election.

Mail voters receive instructions, a ballot, an unmarked yellow secrecy envelope and an outer envelope that contains the voter’s name and a label with a bar code that, when scanned, identifies that voter in the state’s database.

After filling out their ballot, voters must place it in the secrecy envelope, seal it and then put that envelope inside the one with the label/barcode to be returned to the county.

The state has redesigned mail ballot materials to reduce voter errors and confusion. These changes include more understandable instructions, highlighting of fields the voters must complete on the outer envelope and coloring to make it easier for voters to distinguish the outer return envelope and inner secrecy envelope.

A hole punch also will appear on the outer envelope. Mail ballots can’t be unsealed until Election Day, and the hole punch allows workers processing the ballots to instantly verify missing inner secrecy envelopes so they don’t have to take time unsealing those.

The county’s mail ballot drop boxes are in place for voters interested in that option, Cook said.

The schedule:

• Misericordia University, Passan Hall, 100 Lake St., Dallas — weekdays 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; weekends 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Hazleton Exchange Building, 100 W. Broad St., Hazleton — weekdays 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

• Wright Manor (main lobby), 460 S. Main Road, Mountain Top — weekdays 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., weekends 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

• Penn Place (main lobby), 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre — weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In addition, a countertop box is available in the election bureau on the second floor at Penn Place.

Penn Place is the only drop box site available on Election Day. The county will stop accepting ballots at the other three locations after the following times on April 22: Misericordia, 5 p.m.; Hazleton Exchange, 4 p.m.; and Wright Manor, 5 p.m.

Under Pennsylvania law, voters are only allowed to mail or hand-deliver their own ballot unless they are serving as a designated agent for someone with a disability. Disabled voters must fill out an official form authorizing someone to deliver their ballot for them. A copy of the designated agent form is posted at vote.pa.gov.

The designated agent form is supposed to be wrapped around the outside of the ballot packet if it is being deposited in a drop box, officials have said.