Voters in Clearfield County Have Questions

The Clearfield County Election Office in the County Administrative Office Building on East Locust Street in Clearfield has been busy answering questions about mail-in/absentee ballots. Officials issued a statement clarifying many of the concerns. If you have questions, call them at 814-765-2642, Ext. 5053 or email them at elections@clearfieldco.org. (Photo by Julie Rae Rickard)

By Julie Rae Rickard

CLEARFIELD – Recently Clearfield County officials released information clarifying several issues regarding the upcoming election.

In the press release they explained, “The Clearfield County Election

Office has received many calls and inquiries from confused voters concerning various information being put out there by the news, Facebook, and third-party organizations.”

They noted that:

Election Day is November 5, and polling locations are open starting at 7:00 a.m. and closing at 8:00 p.m.

The first day to legally apply for an absentee/mail-in ballot was Sept. 16, but they have been accepting and processing them regularly. HOWEVER, they do not have an official ballot as of yet as they are waiting on the Department of State to certify the candidates that go on the ballot. Also, keep in mind that there may be legal challenges to candidates that may delay the printing of the ballots. They hope to have an official ballot by the beginning of October.

Voters may receive a lot of blank absentee/mail-in applications, (these are NOT ballots) from various voter groups or campaigns. If you want an absentee/mail-in ballot, you only need to fill out one application per election. You can call them and they can check your voter record to see if you have already applied. You can also check by going to the Department of State website: voterregistrationstatus.pa.gov.

If someone is leaving town, and is unsure whether they will receive their ballot prior to when they leave, they can call the election office for the best course of action.

There is a misconception that Pennsylvania has “early voting.” Traditional “early voting” is when a ballot is cast prior to Election Day. Pennsylvania does not have “early voting”. We have absentee and mail-in voting that can be conducted via mail, or you can go to the election office, fill out the absentee/mail-in application and vote at the counter. Once again, check with the office first to make sure there is an official ballot available.

“Our hope is to combat disinformation/misinformation that is being shared

and to provide the most up to date and comprehensive information to the voters of Clearfield County,” it says in the release.

Since 2020 there have been conspiracy theories about people voting

multiple times by mail after getting several ballots.

Please note, voters are not able to request a ballot without supplying personal information making it difficult to apply for a ballot for someone else.

“When you apply for a mail-in ballot you must provide your driver’s license number or the last four digits of your social security number,” Dawn Graham, Director of Election/Voter Registration said in a previous interview.

“When we receive the application, we input it into the State system to generate a ballot label. If someone applies again and we input it into the system, it will flag us that the voter has already applied. Therefore, another label will not be cued up.”

That means one per customer with a special barcode linked to a specific registered voter. Graham said it is not possible to forge a ballot.

If you vote by mail, you will not be permitted to vote at the polls because the books listing voters’ names have separate sections.

“The first section contains the names of those who have not requested a mail ballot and voters who have requested a mail ballot but who has not returned the ballot by the time of printing the books,” Graham explained.

“If a voter has not returned their ballot, there will be a watermark stating that they requested one and that it has not been returned to the Election Office.

“The second section contains the names of the voters who have requested and returned their mail ballots” making them ineligible to vote again at the polls.

What if you didn’t return your mail-in ballot and decide you want to vote at the polls?

“If the voter brings the mail balloting material which includes the ballot and both envelopes with them to the polls, the poll worker will spoil (void) the ballot and issue them a regular ballot.  If the voter does not bring back their balloting material, they will be issued a provisional ballot.”

If it is later discovered this person had voted by mail, the provisional ballot will not be counted.

If you have additional questions, you can call the office at 814-765-2642 ext.

5053 or email them at elections@clearfieldco.org.