Military absentee ballots still arriving in pivotal North Carolina, Pennsylvania
Thousands of military ballots were still arriving in the swing states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina, which are critical to the outcome of the presidential election and will be counted well into next week, election officials said Wednesday.
In Pennsylvania, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar told reporters Wednesday that the state would continue to accept military absentee ballots through Nov. 10.
“We want to remind everyone, military and overseas ballots are not due until a week after Election Day,” Boockvar said. “We want to make sure that not only every civilian absentee mail-in valid voter is counted, but also that every man and woman, who are serving our country, that their votes are counted.”
In Pennsylvania, almost 8,400 military absentee ballots were returned and counted in the 2016 presidential election. That number is likely to surge. Not only did thousands more Pennsylvania voters - both military and civilian - request absentee ballots in 2020 compared to 2016, but the numbers of ballots returned has already surpassed the 2016 turnout.
As of noon Wednesday, the state was reporting that 34,491 military and civilian absentee ballots had been requested for the 2020 race, and 24,013 had already been returned. That compares to a total of 30,184 military and civilian ballots being requested in 2016, and 22,908 being returned.
Both types of ballots, for military personnel and civilians living overseas, are protected under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to give their ballots time to arrive. While Pennsylvania allows those ballots to arrive through Nov. 10, other states set different deadlines.
A breakdown was not immediately available for how many of Pennsylvania’s absentee votes were military or civilian.
The dual challenges of postal system delays and COVID-19 have made casting a ballot this year particularly difficult for service members and their dependents who are stationed overseas, said Sarah Streyder, founder of Military Vote Coalition, a non-partisan organization focused on helping service members and their spouses vote.
“These are valid votes,” Streyder said. “The obstacles these voters have had to overcome this year is exceptional. We need to make sure their votes get counted and no shenanigans are attempted to keep that from happening.”
In North Carolina, 14,550 service members requested military absentee ballots, and as of Wednesday morning, 9,750 had been returned, North Carolina’s elections division data analyst Caroline Myrick said in a statement.
The elections division is expecting more military overseas ballots to arrive in the coming days and North Carolina will count those ballots through Nov. 12.
“We estimate about 4,200 ballots to still be outstanding,” Myrick said, noting that total does not account for voters who may have requested an absentee ballot, but instead voted in person.
In 2016, a total of 8,563 military absentee ballots were requested in North Carolina and 6,317 were returned and counted, according to U.S. Election Assistance Commission data.
In Wisconsin, 10,470 military absentee ballots were requested for the 2020 election, said Wisconsin Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney. The state will not publicly report how many have been returned until all votes are counted, he said. Wisconsin requires military absentee ballots to be received by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.
For comparison, in 2016 almost 4,700 ballots were requested, of which 2,690 were returned and counted, according to U.S. Election Assistance Commission data.
Michigan’s latest numbers were not immediately available, but the state had reported a similar surge in military absentee ballots as of Oct. 22.
In South Carolina, 4,473 military absentee ballots had been returned in the 2020 election, compared to 3,391 ballots in 2016, said South Carolina State Election Commission coordinator John Michael Catalano.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Military absentee ballots still arriving in pivotal North Carolina, Pennsylvania."
