A former Chautauqua County election official is pushing back against mail-in voting.

During the county legislature’s Audit and Control Committee meeting Legislator Terry Niebel, R-Sheridan, cited an article that was published in this newspaper where the county election commissioners said they were preparing for both mail-in and in-person voting for November.

“I would like to see the Board of Elections push for in-person voting on Election Day,” Niebel said. “I think if we go to mail-in ballots, that’s extremely, extremely expensive and I think that will play havoc with the Board of Elections’ 2020 budget, especially if we don’t get any additional state or federal funds.”

Before being elected legislator, Niebel served as the county’s Republican Board of Elections Commissioner for 28 years, retiring in 2008.

Chris Burt, an election technician with the county Board of Elections, participated in the committee meeting and noted that before the primary, the county was required to send ballots to every registered eligible voter. “That was an order from the governor; it wasn’t something we decided that we were doing or not,” Burt said. “I think in the future, based on whether we do it or not, will come from the governor.”

Niebel believes it is important that the Chautauqua County Board of Election Commissioners push for in-person voting because of the cost.

He asked Burt if the Board of Elections can handle mail-in ballots for November. “We do have high speed scanners that will allow us to count absentee ballots. We counted over 5,000 absentee ballots for the primary election alone,” Burt said.

Niebel said he is concerned that the November elections could bring 60,000 ballots, which could overwhelm the current Board of Election staff. “We can take your concerns to the commissioners and let them know,” Burt said.

Niebel asked Burt to do that and added that he would also contact the election commissioners directly about his concerns.

Earlier this month, Democratic Election Commissioner Norman P. Green told the OBSERVER he was neither in favor nor opposed to mail-in ballots. Republican Election Commissioner Brian Abrams wasn’t as neutral. He said he was concerned about the privacy of one’s vote with mail-in ballots, because some people may try to influence other members of their household into voting a certain way by reviewing private ballots. He also expressed concerns about cost.