Tribune-Review file
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Westmoreland commissioners said Wednesday ballot drop boxes likely will be placed in several locations throughout the county prior to the May 18 primary.
The total number of boxes, their locations and dates they will operate have yet to be finalized, but plans are expected to be announced in a week to 10 days, commissioners said.
“We need to make sure we have the proper places, location and workers,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes. “I’m not going to put the cart before the horse. I want to make sure everything is in line and we have everything we need. Let’s get everything together, and we’ll come back and make a determination from that point on.”
Rich Cholodofsky | Tribune-Review
Gerry Fjellanger (left) and Michele DeFloria file more than 30,000 mail-in ballots returned in Westmoreland County during last year’s primary.
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Westmoreland County has received proposals from seven companies to print and mail ballots for the spring primary, including one from the Cleveland-based firm that has yet to be paid as a result of production delays last fall that impacted thousands of local voters.
Elections Bureau director JoAnn Sebastiani said Midwest Direct Presort Mail, along with one printing business in Pennsylvania and companies from Michigan, Ohio, Georgia and Washington state, submitted pitches to print and mail ballots for the May 18 primary. That election will feature hundreds of local races, including county row offices, district judges, municipal councils, township supervisors and school boards.
Westmoreland County officials said
this week no decisions have been reached about how it will handle bills recently received from an Ohio direct mailing company that claimed mechanical issues caused two delays in sending ballots out to voters this fall.
The county received two invoices earlier this month totaling more than $149,000 from Midwest Direct Presort Mailing for the printing and mailing of ballots. The Cleveland-based company was hired in September by the county commissioners to work with the elections bureau this fall.
The county has yet to pay those bills. One charged the county to print about 10,000 ballots that were distributed in person to voters at the courthouse. Another bill for $142,000 was for printing and mailing ballots directly to more than 76,000 voters ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.