Allegheny County seeks to clarify confusion over permanent mail-in ballot applications

Allegheny County election officials are reminding voters that mail-in ballots are not sent to their homes on a permanent basis, and voters must complete an application at least once a year if they want to vote by mail.

This week, the county will be sending out 300,000 mailings to voters on the “permanent status” list. Those mailings include applications for mail-in and absentee ballots, but not the ballots themselves. Under the state’s no-excuse, mail-in voting law, registered voters can be placed on a permanent status list to receive applications for mail-in ballots each year.

But officials said some voters believe, wrongly, that they will automatically be sent ballots each election cycle, every year. That is not the case.

Being on the permanent status list means applications for mail-in ballot will be sent to you permanently. They will receive paper applications each election cycle, but the applications must be completed and returned for voters to receive their ballots.

Democratic and Republican voters on the permanent status list who complete applications before the primary in a given year also will receive mail-in ballots for the general election as well as any special elections that happen before February of the next year.

Third-party or independent voters on the permanent status list will receive mail-in ballots before general and special elections. They will also receive ballots during the primary if there is a ballot question or referendum during that cycle.

Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said there has been an extra layer of confusion recently thanks to three special elections taking place in Allegheny County on Feb. 7.

The 32nd, 34th and 35th State House Districts are all holding special elections on Feb. 7, and Downs said voters were concerned about receiving their mail-in ballots for those races.

She said because the election process started before this week, voters on the permanent status list who live within those districts believed they needed to apply for mail-in ballots again, but the county was already in the process of sending them their mail-in ballots for the special elections because they were on the permanent status list.

She said the permanent status list applies to elections between February of a given year to January of the following year.

Voters on this permanent status list can remove themselves by completing a Request to Cancel Permanent Absentee or Mail-In Status form and mailing it to their respective counties. Downs said that voters also have the option of checking a box on a letter with the 300,000 mailings going out now.

More information can be found on the resource page of Allegheny County Elections Division website.