With an early start on Election Day, poll workers have voting precincts ready for Butler County residents to exercise their civic duty.

County solicitor Wil White says he expects little trouble when it comes to voting in the 2022 midterm election.

“I don’t anticipate there being any confusion and problems, because there’s not a lot of changes since the primary. We’ve only changed a handful of precincts,” White said. “This isn’t like when we had the COVID situation and we were changing dozens of precincts at the last minute. We’ve been able to send a lot of letters, and there haven’t been many changes. I don’t expect there being much confusion as to where to vote or how to vote.”

The county has remained in contact with the state Bureau of Elections and Department of State about potential security, tech, personnel and legal issues, he added.

“We are regularly and continually in communication with (the Department of State) in preparation for the election,” he said Monday. “Multiple times throughout the day, we’re in communication with them, and that’s normal, not unusual. We’ve been on the phone with the postal service multiple times today, making sure everything is clean in terms of where we’re supposed to pick up our ballots tomorrow and making sure no other counties got our ballots. There's a lot of moving parts.”

County Commissioner Kevin Boozel also doesn’t anticipate many problems with the 2022 election proceedings.

“I think we’re well off, I really do,” Boozel said. “I think we’ve done our due diligence; we’ve prepared our poll workers better than ever, and we’ve put backup plans in place that we didn’t have before.”

The county now has a better handle on what areas its “rovers” — or poll workers who drive around with extra equipment in case of a malfunction or problem — will be covering.

“It used to be just we sent people anywhere, but we actually have different areas that people will be serving,” he said. “All three commissioners will be traveling around to make sure things are going well in each of the precincts.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a clarification about the rejection of undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots on Saturday, directing counties to reject mail-in ballots if the handwritten dates fall before Sept. 19 or after Nov. 8 (Election Day), and absentee ballots if they are dated before Aug. 30 or after Nov. 8.

White says the clarification does not change Butler County’s plans for what to do with undated mail-in ballots.

“Unfortunately, a defective ballot, once cast, is defective,” he said. “I don’t interpret it any differently. I think they may have received some questions from people, but it has not changed our practice, our policies, or our interpretation of the law. We believe the Supreme Court is correct in its interpretation of that act.”

The policy requires the county to set aside, but not count, undated and improperly dated mail-in and absentee ballots, which director of the county Bureau of Elections, Chantell McCurdy, said Butler County already was doing.

“We are sticking with what we’ve done before,” she said. “We have always segregated them and presented them to our computation board, which is what we’ll continue to do.”

Boozel appreciates the move to standardize the response to mail-in ballots across the state.

“I’m glad they put the clarity to that, that's good. I’m all about consistency across the state, so if the county says it’s November-whatever-date, I’m all for consistency,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to change a lot for us.”

The county has received 17,322 mail-in and absentee ballots as of Monday afternoon, McCurdy said, a larger return rate than expected.

“We well shot over the normal 80% turnout response for our mail-in and absentees,” she said. “Usually, we get back 80%, and we have gotten over that number back. There’s still tomorrow for them to come in the mail.”

The county sent out more than 20,000 mail-in ballots this election cycle, after expecting to send out only 15,000 or so originally.

“We’re very excited by the response rate,” McCurdy said. “It takes a lot of work to mail everything out, so it’s nice when they come back.”

Overall, McCurdy is confident about the county’s preparation for the election.

“I think we’re doing great. We actually are better equipped than I thought we would have been,” she said. “A couple weeks ago it was really hectic, but we have had a great response."

This year, more poll workers are available than in the past, and that’s by design, Boozel said. The county trained additional poll workers so that alternates could be called in case someone wasn’t available.

“We actually equipped and educated and trained additional people, so we had backups in case somebody got sick, or something happens, or people change their mind and don’t want to do it,” Boozel said. “We made sure we have additional people who are ready to go in those precincts. I would say we are better off this year.”

The county also has implemented a new tracking system to keep track of what training programs poll workers have attended.

“We said, ‘these are things we want to do better,’ and that was one of them, and we are doing better, I feel very comfortable with that,” Boozel said.

The county made a concerted effort to recruit more poll workers this year than past years, White added.

“The staffing is probably the best it’s ever been. There’s so much more activity. Everyone is talking about the election, so more people are getting involved,” White said. “It's a more diverse group than ever — young, old, both political parties. It’s probably the most diverse group of poll workers and volunteers that we have had. I don’t think we’re hurting for people.”

Polling Hours

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Polls are open in Butler County from 7 a.m. straight through to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Be sure to check butlereagle.com during the evening for ongoing election coverage. Tune in to the Eagle’s Facebook page beginning at 7:45 p.m. for live election updates throughout the evening.