Released: October 29, 2020
As anticipated, Delaware County and the State have processed a record number of requests for vote-by-mail ballots for the November 2020 General Election. The Delaware County Bureau of Elections will have processed and mailed 155,000 vote-by-mail ballots by the statutory deadline, including all ballots resulting from applications submitted through the October 27 vote-by-mail application deadline.
The Bureau of Elections continues to receive vote-by-mail ballots, with over 95,000 vote-by-mail ballots scanned into the system through the morning of October 29. This includes mail-in and absentee ballots that have been received by the County by mail, at the County’s Voter Service Centers, and from ballot drop boxes located in municipalities across the county.
The 155,000 voters approved to receive vote-by-mail ballots represents approximately 36% of a total of 425,000 registered voters in Delaware County. There are 208,000 registered Democrats and 161,000 registered Republicans in the county. 56,000 are registered with third parties or without a party affiliation.
Reminders for Vote-by-Mail Voters:
Delaware County voters are reminded to visit the Election Ballot Status tracker on the Pennsylvania Voter Services website at www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/ to confirm the status of their ballot. Voters can visit any Delaware County Voter Service Center, with locations in Media, Chester and Upper Darby, to discuss the status of their vote-by-mail ballot.
Voters concerned that their vote-by-mail ballot will not be delivered to them by USPS in time to complete and cast their ballot can visit any Voter Service Center and request a replacement ballot in-person, and submit the ballot on-site or at any of the 44 ballot drop boxes located throughout the County. Voters who submitted their request for a vote-by-mail ballot in the past week are asked to be patient, with the understanding that USPS will need a minimum of a few days to deliver the ballot.
Voters who have returned their voted vote-by-mail ballot but are concerned that their ballot may not be received by the Bureau of Elections by the deadline can visit their polling place on Election Day, explain their situation to their precinct’s Judge of Elections, and cast a provisional ballot that will be counted if their vote-by-mail ballot is not received by the deadline.
A new “Last Minute Vote-by-Mail Concerns” guide has been published to the Delco Votes! Website: delcopa.gov/vote. This resource provides explanations for several common scenarios that voters may experience when requesting and casting a vote-by-mail ballot.