Erie County elections office to maintain extended hours through weekend

The Erie County voter registration and elections office, located inside the county courthouse, will operate extended hours through the weekend.

The decision comes as several voters still have not received their mail-in ballots.

Voters who applied for a mail-in ballot but haven’t received it can visit the elections office, cancel their mail ballot and receive a new one at the counter until 4:30 p.m., on Nov. 4, according to Erie County Clerk Karen Chillcott.

New hours announced

The voter registration and elections office will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, the office will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Erie County Board of Elections must receive mail-in ballots by 8 p.m., on Nov. 5.

Why the ballot delays?

Last week, the county learned that two bins of mail-in ballots had been dropped off at a U.S. Postal Service mail processing facility in Pittsburgh and were then sent to the wrong post office.

Chillcott on Monday said she is concerned more ballots might have been affected.

The Postal Service error followed the Oct. 18 discovery that the county’s Ohio-based vendor, ElectionIQ, had mistakenly sent duplicate mail-in ballots to the wrong voters, the result of a software error.

Chilcott addressed the delays in a news release Tuesday:

“The Erie County Board of Elections is acutely aware that many voters in Erie County have not received their requested mail ballots. The board has been working diligently with the Voter Registration Department, the Pennsylvania Department of State and the United States Post Office to determine the origin and scope of this matter.”

A.J. Rao can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @ETNRao.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County elections office to maintain extended hours of operation