By Christina Lengyel | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – With all eyes on Pennsylvania, officials across the commonwealth oversaw a relatively smooth Election Day.
And despite occasional local issues ranging from bomb threats to power outages, the state largely averted many of the concerns that lingered from previous elections.
“Our counties take elections really seriously, and we’re very proud of the work we do,” said Lisa Schaefer, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, in an interview with The Center Square.
Of particular note was the speed with which votes were returned this election, allowing officials to call the state and the presidential race in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
“Every election gives counties more experience,” said Schaefer of the improved speed.
Counties have been refining their processes over the past four years since the COVID-19 pandemic introduced widespread voting by mail.
Schaefer noted that the biggest drag on reporting speed is that precincts can’t process ballots earlier, called precanvassing, so that tabulation can move faster after the polls close.
As of now, workers must simultaneously run an in-person election and process a swathe of mail-in votes. Statewide, nearly 2 million were returned – roughly one-third of all votes cast on Election Day.
A compromise has eluded lawmakers for four years now, when the 2020 election laid bare how unrealistic same-day canvassing can be for workers. In that cycle, the first one with widespread mail-in voting, workers spent days tabulating ballots before races could be called.
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President Joe Biden overtook incumbent Donald Trump’s early lead that night as mail-in ballots from deep blue Philadelphia and Pittsburgh stacked up. The sea-change upset the historic same-day turnout that Republicans have long enjoyed.
It was also at the heart of voting fraud allegations, dismissed by courts across the country, that Trump and many conservative Republicans up and down the ballot backed.
Election reforms have been hard to come by ever since. Republicans want universal voting identification while Democrats want early in-person voting, same day registration and more ballots boxes. Both parties support early pre-canvassing, though agreeing to a timeframe has been unsuccessful.
For Schaefer, however, the biggest obstacle county officials faced during this election was misinformation. Some voters received inaccurate information about deadlines, polling places, closing times and procedures.
Polls across the state closed at 8 p.m., though anyone who was in line at the time polls closed was allowed to wait to cast their ballot. Those who waited in longer lines received encouragement to stick it out, with some locations even receiving calls and appearances from celebrities.
Ahead of the election, county workers discovered instances of voter registration fraud from a canvassing operation that collected applications throughout the summer. The organization, Everybody Votes, is managed by an Arizona-based company that’s gone dark in the wake of the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign and its proxies sued Bucks County officials for alleged suppression after workers told voters standing in long lines for mail-in ballots couldn’t return them on the spot. Critics say these efforts were setting the stage to cast doubt on the results should Vice President Kamala Harris have won.
That didn’t happen, leaving many hopeful that election integrity concerns will fade.
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