PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission Thursday discussed concerns of voting by mail as other states are sending ballots to registered voters.

Voters in West Virginia have to request an application for an absentee ballot that will have to be filled out and reviewed by the County Clerk’s office before a ballot is sent to the voter.

Commission President Blair Couch said at a future commission meeting he wants to do a demonstration on how ballots are sent locally, how they arrive at people’s homes, what is included and how they are returned.

“It is multiple envelopes with multiple places to sign,” he said.

Couch also talked about how within the last 10 years some people have talked about the possibility of voting by internet. However, these days no one is talking about that as a possibility due to numerous security concerns.

“I think people realize that is much more ripe for abuse,” he said. “That has gone away. I haven’t even heard any of the pundits even mention that is where things need to go.”

Commissioners agreed that the mass sending out of ballots could be corrupted. They prefer the current system where the voter requests a ballot and is able to be checked by election officials. The ballots sent in are secured and put into the counting machines when the count begins for the early voting ballots.

“I am still impressed with how we do things,” Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said. “It is very accurate.”

He commended county workers for working hard to make sure every vote is accurately counted.

“It is a thorough process,” Couch added. “We just need to make sure our ‘i’s are dotted and our ‘t’s are crossed.”

A concern with the mail service is when the election is held and a number of ballots postmarked before the election are received after the canvassing.

The commission begins canvassing the Monday after the election. There is concern that additional ballots could come in, with the proper postmark, after canvassing is done and the results are certified.

Couch said that could open the door to legal challenges, especially in tight races where a small number of ballots could determine an outcome.

If someone loses by five votes and the day or two after canvassing 25 ballots show up properly postmarked, legal action could be taken to get those votes counted. However, the results could be officially certified.

In other business, officials with the Lubeck PSD are scheduled to appear before the commission on Monday to discuss a proposed rate increase. Commissioners are going to contact the state Public Service Commission to see if someone could come and be part of the meeting to offer assistance to the county commission in reviewing different information from the PSD.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com.