Westmoreland County on Friday will begin counting an estimated 1,200 provisional ballots cast at the polls on Election Day.
County officials said it appears nearly 83% of Westmoreland’s more than 255,000 register voters cast ballots during the November presidential election. According to unofficial totals, more than 211,000 ballots were cast. Voter turnout was 81% in 2020.
The vote totals included 55,135 mail-in and absentee ballots that were processed Tuesday.
Election Bureau Director Greg McCloskey said 436 mail-in ballots were rejected and not included in Tuesday’s unofficial totals. He said 218 ballots that were submitted without dates or inaccurate dates will be sequestered pending a state appeals court ruling that is expected to provide guidance to election directors as to whether they will be counted.
McCloskey said another 218 mail-in ballots were rejected for not having valid signatures or submitted without secrecy envelopes. Those ballots will not be counted.
The county’s provisional board will begin work Friday to determine the eligibility of those paper ballots cast at the polls on Election Day by voters who were initially deemed unable to vote at their precinct, or had previously requested a mail-in ballot but opted to vote at the polls.
The counting process could take several days, McCloskey said.