An hour after polling places closed, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar
reported that yesterday’s primary election in Pennsylvania ran
remarkably smoothly despite unprecedented challenges in the weeks and
months before the voting.
“Today, we marked two major milestones in Pennsylvania’s electoral
history,” Boockvar said. “For the first time, Pennsylvania voters could
vote by mail-in ballot without having to provide an excuse, and they did
so in impressive numbers. And all 67 counties have now deployed new,
more secure and accessible voting systems with voter-verifiable paper
ballots. I am extremely thankful for and proud of Pennsylvania’s
dedicated election officials, poll workers and, of course, voters.”
Approximately 1.8 million Pennsylvania voters applied for and were
approved to vote by mail-in and absentee ballot, which is 17 times
greater than the number who applied for an absentee ballot for the last
presidential primary in 2016. For voters casting a ballot in person,
poll workers across Pennsylvania provided safe and secure polling
places. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the department furnished
counties with masks and face shields for poll workers, along with hand
sanitizer, floor-marking tape and other supplies. Voters were asked to
wear face masks and practice social distancing.
In 22 counties, voters used new voting systems with voter-verifiable
paper trails for the first time. These were the final counties to
implement voting systems that meet Pennsylvania’s new standards of
security and accessibility. In 2018, the Department of State informed
counties that they had to select new voting systems that provide a paper
record voters can verify by the end of 2019 and implement them by the
2020 primary. All 67 counties met those deadlines.
Department of State staff and volunteers from other state agencies
answered more than 3,600 calls received yesterday via the commonwealth’s
voter help line (1-877-VOTESPA).
On Monday, Governor Tom Wolf issued an executive order extending the
deadline for six counties to receive mailed ballots. The order, for
Allegheny, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Montgomery and Philadelphia
counties, was a response to civil disturbances that hampered voters’
ability to return their ballots. Those counties can now accept mailed
ballots that were postmarked by June 2 and are received by 5 p.m. June
9.
Due to the unprecedented number of mail ballots and Wolf’s executive
order, the Department of State anticipates some delays in vote-counting
and the release of final results. As unofficial election results become
available from counties, they will be posted on the department’s
elections return site at
www.electionreturns.pa.gov. The site provides
statewide totals and county-by-county breakdowns of each race.
