Western Pennsylvania counties are preparing for Election Day as the deadline for absentee voting approaches

Less than two weeks before Election Day, Joyce Jacobs of Unity was one of hundreds of people who lined up to cast their votes at the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg on Wednesday.

Jacobs, a 53-year-old Trump supporter, said she had never cast an absentee ballot before. But this year she felt like it was her best option.

“I wanted to avoid standing in line on election day. I wanted to get here early and get it done because I feel safer with this system and I don’t trust the electronic voting machines,” Jacobs said.

Voters of all political stripes have requested and cast mail-in ballots in large numbers, a departure from recent years in Pennsylvania, when the number of Democrats who voted early or by mail dwarfed the number of Republicans who did so. Voters have until Tuesday at 5 p.m. to request a postal vote.

No excuses, mail-in voting was introduced in Pennsylvania for the first time in 2020.

According to the State Department, more than 1.1 million ballots had already been returned in Pennsylvania as of Wednesday morning.

According to the state, Democratic voters have accounted for more than 57% of absentee ballot requests so far, while Republican voters accounted for 30% of all requests.

As of Wednesday, Democrats in Allegheny County had cast more than 70% of the 142,511 mail-in ballots returned so far, while Republicans had returned about 20% of ballots, officials said.

In Westmoreland County, Democrats accounted for nearly 57% of the roughly 28,000 early votes cast so far, compared with nearly 36% for Republicans, officials said.

Four years ago, as the coronavirus raged, more than 2.7 million absentee and absentee ballots were cast by mail in Pennsylvania.

State officials said Wednesday that Pennsylvania voters had requested about 1.9 million mail-in ballots this election season. Allegheny County processed the most mail-in ballots in the state, with more than 232,000 voters requesting absentee ballots. Westmoreland County has received nearly 54,000 absentee ballot applications.

State election officials have warned that the large number of mail-in ballots could delay the announcement of election results.

By law, counties cannot begin counting until polls open on Election Day.

“We will have over 220 county employees at the election warehouse in the morning to inspect and open the envelopes, flatten the ballots and ensure they are secured,” said Allegheny County spokeswoman Abigail Gardner.

She said most mail-in ballots are expected to be counted by 8 p.m

“We’re happy with the process,” Gardner said.

Greg McCloskey, director of the Westmoreland County elections office, said there will be enough staff and equipment at the courthouse to process and count up to 60,000 mail-in ballots by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

“We will have three rows of envelope openers and five tabulating machines, one more than the last election,” McCloskey said.