Dauphin County Elections Office Deputy Director Chris Spackman demonstrates the ballot envelope opening machine.
While Election Day for many will mean briefly stopping at the polls, for those doing the vote counting, the day lasts much longer.
On Wednesday, Dauphin County elections officials offered a behind-the-scenes look at what will happen to each casted ballot on Nov. 3.
“There’s a lot of preparation that’s gone into this election and will continue to go into this election over the next five to eight days,” Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries said. “We’re set to go. We are ready to run this election.”
On Election Day, residents voting in-person will do so from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 159 precincts within the county. Pries said that poll workers will be equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for their location.
However, Pries said that a majority of county residents participating in the election this year are opting for mail-in ballots.
Around 65,800 mail-in ballots were requested, and the county has received about 45,000 to date, Pries said. Until this year, 2004 held the record for absentee ballots received, but that was only 6,900.
Even with the shift in voting method, Pries assured, they are ready.
“We want our voters to have 100% confidence that their vote is going to count,” he said.
Beginning at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, a team, including 30 volunteers, will process ballots in the Dauphin County Administration Building.
Bins of Dauphin County ballots.
Thousands of ballots already sit in bins organized by precinct. Pries expects about 50,000 mail-in ballots by Tuesday.
Volunteers will run ballots through a machine to open the outer and inner envelopes. Pries said that their fastest of the two machines can open 40,000 envelopes per hour. Ballots will then be transported to another room to be scanned and counted.
“We now believe that, election night, we will have all the in-person voting done and approximately, if everything goes well, 50,000 mail-in ballots completed,” Pries said. “We should have a majority of our votes in election night or early morning.”
Pries said that, of the 197,800 registered voters in Dauphin County, he expects a turnout percentage in the 70s.
For those who requested a mail-in ballot, but want to vote in person, Pries said that they can fill out a form from the judge of elections at their polling location that will allow them to vote in-person.
Pries encouraged mail-in ballot voters to not wait until the deadline to turn in their envelope. He said it can be dropped off at the Dauphin County Administration Building Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“We now have, by mail-ins, the opportunity to someday reach 100% voter turnout,” Pries said.
For more information, visit www.dauphincounty.org/.
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