Clarion election workers are busy

The first floor of the Clarion County administration office is a busy place these days because that is where the county’s office of elections is located.

“We have been taking a lot of calls from people asking if they need to request a mail-in ballot,” said Cindy Callihan, the director of elections for the county. “If they requested one for the primary they applied for both elections. We have had some new ones too.”

There were 2,650 mail-in applications and 600 absentee ballots in Clarion County for the June primary election

The only mail-in ballots Clarion County has received for the Nov. 3 general election have been from military personnel.

Callihan noted Clarion County doesn’t have any drop boxes.

A presidential election always creates more interest, and that equated to 588 new voter registrations, 424 name changes and 424 address changes prior to the primary.

A total of 306 voters also changed their party affiliation for the primary, and that trend is continuing for the general election.

As of Tuesday, 143 voters have switched from Democrat to Republican, and 22 voters have switched from Republican to Democrat. Another 26 Democrats switched to “other”, and 18 Republicans did likewise.

Thirteen voters listed as “other” switched to Democrat and 46 “others” switched to Republican.

A total of 23,712 voters were registered for the general election as of Tuesday. The total includes 14,226 Republicans and 6,807 Democrats.

Another 400 voters are listed as independent, there are 100 Libertarians and 1,837 more with “no affiliation.”

The balance of the voters identified themselves as belonging to parties ranging from Prohibition, Green Party, Reform, Tea Party and Patriot Party, among others.

“We have been very busy around here,” said Callihan.