LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Inside Penn Place in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, mail-in ballots made their way into drop boxes as the countdown to election day neared. However, there are concerns over missing mail-in ballots, and County Manager Romilda Crocamo and Election Bureau members are rechecking their records.
"The local Democratic chair reached out to us and indicated that he believes that there are a group of individuals who didn't receive their ballots, said Crocamo. "We asked him for a list. He provided that, and we're going through the list."
Crocamo says more than 40,000 residents signed up to receive a mail-in ballot in Luzerne County.
Those names are sent to a printing company in Rochester, New York, and mailed out from there.
"In our records, the files that we produce that are sent to the printer," said Crocamo.
Luzerne County is working closely with the Department of State in the lead-up to election day.
If you're planning on voting by mail and have not received your ballot yet, officials say there are other ways to make sure your vote counts.
In a statement given to Newswatch 16, a representative from the Department of State said, "Voters who received an absentee or mail-in ballot may vote in person on Election Day if they bring their mail ballot materials with them to be voided."
If you do not receive your ballot in time for November 5th, The Department of State said, "Voters who requested a mail ballot and did not receive it or do not have it to surrender may vote by provisional ballot at their polling place. The provisional ballot will be reviewed by their county board of elections after Election Day to determine whether it can be counted."
Crocamo tells us the elections bureau has already received completed mail-in ballots from tens of thousands of voters across Luzerne County.
"We had loaded over 37,000 mail-in ballot returns that goes into the state system," said Crocamo. "Obviously, they're going to continue to come in up until November 5th, and we'll be processing those."
For more information about what to do if you have or have not received your mail-in ballot, click here.