It’s going to be an election like we’ve never had in a year we’ll never forget.
Many Pennsylvanians have already voted by mail for the first time; others will be voting on new machines for the first time; and - importantly - no one’s likely to have final results for several days after the polls close.
Don’t take that as a fraud alert, either.
“With this massive amount of mail-ins so far, we are anticipating potentially two or three days until the results are officially in,” Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries said during a Facebook Live interview with PennLive Thursday. “We’ll know the live vote count (from the machines) that night. But with this massive amount of mail-ins this could take several days until some of these close races are officially listed.”
Fortunately, it’s also a primary election with a manageable number of races. So while the results will be very real for the candidates who are seeking these offices, in a way you might be able to look at next week’s vote as one giant, and badly needed, statewide dress rehearsal for the mother of all elections next fall.
“We know that there are going to be issues on June 2nd,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause PA, citing instances in which county offices have sent out duplicate mail-in ballots, or even the wrong political party’s primary ballot; the massive consolidation of polling places in places like Philadelphia; and the use of new machines in many places.
“The way that we’re looking at this is really that we we will have a lot of clarity after June 2nd about what needs to be fixed for November," Almeida said. "And we’re hoping we can come up with some really clear, practical solutions... to make sure that no voter is disenfranchised in November.”
Here’s a look at some of the major questions that voters, candidates and their supporters are likely to have. First, for those old-schoolers who are determined to vote in person:
If my county is using new voting machines, will there be help to guide me through it?
In many counties across the state, including Cumberland and Dauphin, voters will be using new machines for the very first time. This usually brings its own set of challenges, though officials are somewhat hopeful because of both the user-friendly nature of the new machines and, in some cases, similarities to the systems that had replaced.
Each county has videos posted on their Web sites to give interested a voters a head start on what they’re facing. And voters in Cumberland will also receive instructional postcards to all voters who show up to help guide them through the process.
This following video shows how to use the voting system being used in Dauphin and Perry counties:
What’s being done to protect against coronavirus?
First of all, the Election Day was already postponed from April 28 to June 2, which has taken most counties into a period of significantly declining rates of transmission of COVID-19. But now that June 2 is approaching, elections officials are working hard to make sure that the voting experience itself is as safe as possible.
In Cumberland County, Director of Elections and Voter Registration Bethany Salzarulo said every voter will be provided a personal pen to sign in with the registrars - a free souvenir for doing your civic duty, if you will. They will then proceed to touch-screen voting machines that, in most cases, will have been wiped down with disinfectant after each use. Blue painter’s tape is being laid out to mark out appropriate social distancing inside the polling stations, though voters will need to self-monitor that outside.
Lancaster County voters will see signage and yellow tape to encourage them to social distance. In Dauphin County, Pries said poll workers will have the option of using face shields to protect themselves from possible virus exposure.
As with every public transaction in the yellow-phase of the pandemic reopening, voters are strongly encouraged to wear face masks, though no one will be turned away if they don’t. “We’re hoping that they want to keep themselves and their neighbors healthy,” Salzarulo said.
Pries seconded that thought Thursday.
“Respect your fellow citizens when you come out to vote.... Practice social distancing, please wear a mask, and be respectful of others that are there doing the same thing.”
What about finding out where I vote?
Some counties have consolidated polling places in some areas due to reduced numbers of poll workers because of the pandemic. The best way for you to make sure where you are to vote on Tuesday would be checking in at the www.pavoterservices.pa.gov Web site, where you can enter your residence and note the result.
Each county also has its own respective polling place locater on-line.
As for the pioneers testing out Pennsylvania’s new, no-excuse vote-by-mail option:
I asked for a mail ballot application, but haven’t filled it out yet. What should I do?
All mail-in ballots must be received by 8 p.m. Tuesday, and that is not a postmark deadline. Therefore, we are now entering the period where you should consider dropping your mail-in ballot off in person. Most counties do have official drop boxes at their county voter registration offices. It kind of defeats the initial convenience factor, but it does ensure that you’ll get counted.
Don’t take our word for it. The Pennsylvania Election Protection Coalition on Thursday issued their own release urging any voter who plans to vote by mail but has not yet sent the ballot back to mail it immediately or drop it off in person to be sure about meeting that deadline.
Drop boxes will be accessible through 8 p.m. on election day at the following locations.
Adams County: County Courthouse, 117 Baltimore St., Gettysburg
Dauphin County: County Administration Building, 2 S. Second St., Harrisburg.
Cumberland County: Elections and Voter Registration Office lobby, 1601 Ritner Highway, Carlisle.
Franklin County: Lobby of the Old Courthouse on the Square in Chambersburg.
Lancaster County: County Board of Elections office, 150 N. Queen St., Lancaster.
Lebanon County: Municipal Building, 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon.
Perry County: Veterans Memorial Building, New Bloomfield.
York County: York County Administrative Center, 28 E. Market St., right next to The Yorktowne Hotel.
If you didn’t receive your mail-in ballot or never filled it out, you can and should still go to your polling place to cast a vote in person. That will likely need to be done through the provisional ballot process, but your vote should be counted once officials determine that you hadn’t actually cast one by mail.
If you’ve already voted by mail, that’s the vote that has to stand.
What about the results?
None of the counties we surveyed for this story - Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster and York - anticipated having final vote totals on Tuesday night.
Here’s why. About 1.8 million voters have resorted to the mail-in ballot process this year, with the full encouragement of Gov. Tom Wolf. Far more than ever before.
Lancaster County sent out 63,893 mail-in or absentee ballots, and has 31,607 in hand so far. Randall Wenger, chief clerk of the county’s board of elections, said that while he expects his staff to begin counting those ballots during the day next Tuesday, it will take multiple days to get through them all.
“I fully expect this process will take many days,” Wenger said, with running totals released at the close of business each day.
In other counties, however, those votes aren’t even going to be touched until Wednesday morning.
In Cumberland, for example, Salzarulo said she and the county commissioners decided that they wanted to keep their sole focus on the in-person vote with the new machines on Tuesday, and then apply the same focus to the mail-in count starting on Wednesday. It’s received 37,307 applications, more than five times the previous high for absentee ballots, set in November 2016.
So in a lot of cases, you’ll see machine counts Tuesday night, which in some cases will likely be good indicators of how an election might turn out. But close races will take longer to decide, and likely take two or three days before final results are known.
It will be an adjustment.
“It’s all very convenient for people to have the ability to vote by mail," Salzarulo said. "But everyone needs to understand that because of that convenience your election results are going to come in later. So I don’t know how that’s going to come out in the wash, so to speak.”
One more note. If you are not getting an answer to your specific questions from your local county voter registration office, Common Cause’s Almeida noted anyone with an issue can call the nonpartisan “Election Protection Hotline” where volunteers will be able to answer their questions.
English-speaking voters can call 866-OUR-VOTE for assistance now between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on June 2. Help is also available in Spanish (888-VE-Y-VOTA), Arabic (844-YALLA-US) and Asian languages (888-API-VOTE).
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