Westmoreland County residents are losing confidence in the integrity of our voting process. That loss of trust isn’t tied to one issue. It’s the accumulation of several concerns. Our commissioners have both an opportunity and a responsibility to address them directly.
We should all share a simple goal: ensuring every eligible citizen can vote in ways that are safe, secure and convenient. Our lives today are far more complicated than they were decades ago. Expecting everyone to vote only in person, on a single day, no longer works.
That’s why Pennsylvania Act 77 — passed on a bipartisan basis in 2019 — matters. It created no‑excuse mail‑in voting, a system repeatedly upheld in court. Mail‑in ballots now account for more than a quarter of all votes cast in Westmoreland County, with seniors casting nearly 75% of them.
But mail‑in voting only works if voters can return their ballots with confidence. With increasingly unpredictable mail delivery, secure drop boxes are not conveniences — they are safeguards. And the cost is modest: staffing three drop boxes for 18 days costs under $10,000, net of avoided postage costs. This is far less than the $18,000 already approved for redundant paper ballots for the 2026 primary.
My recommendations to the commissioners are straightforward: Restore the Pennsylvania Avenue drop box, add at least two satellite locations outside Greensburg, improve signage and increase communication about the existing security measures.
Strong procedures and clear communication are essential to restoring trust. Reinstating drop boxes will strengthen voter participation and confidence across the county.
Bibiana Boerio
Unity
The writer is secretary of the Westmoreland Democratic Committee.