Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
An election like no other
Factors combine for once- in- a- generation race
Today marks a milestone in an election year that has been like no other in American history.
Normally, Election Day in a presidential election year is the culmination of a months- long campaign marked by a tidal wave of television campaign ads, polls, robocalls and debates.
And to be sure, 2020 has seen all of that and more.
But this year, Election Day itself feels very different.
Perhaps as many as half of all the people who will vote in 2020 will have already done so by the time the polls open today.
Masses of mail- in votes
That’s thanks to a worldwide viral pandemic, now spreading in a long- feared autumn surge of cases that pushed millions to vote early, either by mail, by depositing a ballot at a voting kiosk, or by early in- person voting.
Spotlight PA reported last week that nearly 3.1 million mail ballots were requested in Pennsylvania — representing about onethird of all registered voters — and 2.1 million had been returned as of Oct. 29.
That mirrors a pandemicdriven surge in mailin voting during the primary election in June. According to the Keystone Research Center, 18 times as many voters used mailin primary ballots as did four years ago.
In the southeastern region of the state, the Delaware County Bureau of Elections reports that 155,000 vote- by- mail ballots will have been mailed and processed by the statutory deadline, and as of Oct. 29 the offi ce had already scanned and processed 95,000 of them, according to information posted on the agency website.
Similarly, as of Oct. 28, Montgomery County had approved 278,712 ballot applications and had 9,817 ballots requested in- person. As of Oct. 29, 188,871 ballots had been returned via the county’s established drop boxes and the mail, according to Montgomery County Commissioner Ken Lawrence Jr.
Berks County Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt, chairman of the county elections board, said Wednesday that the election services office had received nearly 83,000 requests for mailed ballots and received back nearly 57,000 ballots.
“I voted weeks ago in Royersford,” said Seth Miller of Linfi eld. “Filled mine out while making breakfast on a Sunday morning. Best voting experience I’ve had yet. Also received email shortly after that my ballot was received.”
“I voted early for a couple reasons,” said Laura Johnson of Pottstown. “I’m a judge of election on Election Day and did not want to have to fi gure out a time to leave my post and get in what could be a long line in order to vote. Also, should I get sick or need to quarantine, I still want to be able to vote. Doing it ahead of time helps ensure that I’m able to exercise my civic duty.”
With five comorbidities, Ed Gallagher of Exeter Township said he had little choice but to avoid the polls today, so he voted early.
“I am hoping a ton of people vote on Tuesday. Vote day used to be a huge social day for me as I used
to just talk to everybody. I will miss that,” Gallagher said.
“We chose to vote in advance because of COVID, mainly,” said Linda Giacchino of Springfi eld, Delaware County. “We’re older and wanted to avoid possible Election Day lines, contagion, and stress if there were demonstrations or intimidation. Or non- mask wearers.”
Luckily for Giacchino and her husband, everyone they saw was wearing a mask at the Delaware County Courthouse in Media when they dropped off their ballots.
“The entire world is experiencing a serious pandemic,” said Mark Ungemach of Landenberg. “This is not just about protecting myself, it is about protecting those around me in case I am infected but asymptotic, and that includes protecting poll workers and my neighbors.”
Fewer poll workers, more voters
The threat posed by the pandemic has winnowed the ranks of seniors willing to risk working the polls on Election Day and coming into contact with potential carriers of the COVID19 virus.
“I’m usually a poll worker, but I’m at too high risk for the virus to do it this year,” said Elena Santangelo. “I voted three weeks ago by mail- in ballot dropped off at the ballot box. It was easy and I felt safer from the virus than I would have at the polls. “
Fewer poll workers means fewer polling places in a year when participation in democracy’s most vital exercise is expected to break new records.
This will likely mean lines, long ones.
“Nationally, they’re estimating 65 percent of the eligible voters will vote this year. Four years, ago, that number was 56 percent,” said G. Terry Madonna, who heads up the Franklin & Marshall College Poll.
“You’d have to go back to the election of 1908,” when Republican William Howard Taft defeated threetime Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan, “to get voting numbers like that,” said Madonna.
Hopefully those waiting in lines will be wearing masks to reduce the risk of spreading the disease to their fellow voters and poll workers, anxious voters said.
“I fi gured this one was too important not to mask up and get it done in person to make sure I get counted,” said Pottstown resident Jean Caldwell Chernesky.
“I feel safer voting in person and to me, Election Day is November 3rd and that is when it should be done,” said Amy Vontor of Douglassville.
“I’m voting in person on Election Day as I always have because I feel it will be safe and hopefully quick as it usually has been in the
past,” said Trooper resident John Hockenbrock.
In preparation for the large number of voters, Delaware County has doubled the number of judges who will be available to hear appeals from voters on Tuesday.
“The huge increase in voting is encouraging for our country. Every vote counts, so count every vote,” said Cheryl Haley of New London, who decried those “smearing the integrity of the election process.”
Concerns about counting
One thing driving that mistrust is President Trump’s frequent allegations of voter fraud, causing some voters to wonder if their votes will be counted.
“I voted by absentee ballot because of pending surgery but I would have preferred voting in person since I am afraid the president will sue to overturn the results of Pa.’ s election based on unsubstantiated claims that absentee ballots lead to fraudulent votes,” said Rodney Speiss of Reading.
“I will vote on Election Day, in person. I simply don’t trust the mail- in voting,” said West Chester resident Matt Kelly.
Jamie DeHarde of Pottstown will also be voting in person today. “I didn’t want to risk the chance of my ballot getting lost or stolen,” she said.
“I will be voting in person. I’m nervous about going out, but this election is too important. I want to be sure my vote is received and counted,” said Nancy Mansley White of Glenolden. “I’m hoping I can go at a time that it won’t be too crowded with the whole town voting at the same place.
“We are voting in person. It’s the only way we feel our votes will be secure and counted,” said Reading resident Rosemary Ricchuiti Smorey.
“I am voting in person as this is the most important election ever,” said Denise Troutman of Bernville. “If you have been out grocery shopping and other things, you can go vote in person.”
Like eating out, grocery shopping, working, or even visiting friends and family, the virus has reached deeply into nearly every aspect of Americans’ lives. And that includes the election, so much so even President Trump contracted the virus, thus forcing the cancellation of one of the presidential debates, something that has not happened in 40 years.
So pervasive is the virus that former Vice President Joe Biden has evidently chosen to make President Trump’s handling of the virus the centerpiece of his campaign.
This in a cycle in which any number of singular events in the past three years — the president has been impeached; racial justice protests, and ensuing riots and looting, have erupted across the country; wildfi res are consuming millions of acres in the western states — could have been fodder for a presidential campaign.
And certainly few can deny the singularity of a Supreme Court Justice being sworn in just nine days before a presidential election.
Amy Coney Barrett was narrowly confirmed Oct. 26 by a sharply divided U. S. Senate and immediately sworn in during a nighttime ceremony, all in a year when the probability
exists that the newly appointed justice represents a crucial vote on any election challenges that may be brought before the court, such as whether Pennsylvania mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day will be counted.
A nation divided
Mirroring the divisions in the Senate are the divisions across the country, sharper elbowed than any time in recent memory, fueled perhaps by what the nation’s security agencies insist are eff orts by Russia, China and Iran to interfere in U. S. elections, particularly through the newly volatile medium of social media.
“This is the most polarized electorate we’ve seen since we started scientifi c polling. There is no middle ground,” said Madonna.
“What is different in this election is the amount of passion on both sides, which I’m afraid is not a good thing,” said Jim Salvas of West Chester.
“We are now in two camps, more divided than any time since the Civil War,” said Salvas. “We approach this election as if we were navigating a battlefi eld.”
In fact that’s one reason Rosana Nimmerichter of Pottstown voted by mail. “I don’t want to experience any altercation that may happen,” she said. “People are even hating their ‘ friends’ and family.”
Polls show very little ambiguity among likely voters.
“There’s been very little movement since we started polling; 88 percent of Republicans plan on voting for Trump and 88 percent of Democrats plan on voting for Biden, everyone has made their mind up and there are very few undecideds,” said Madonna, who has been polling Pennsylvanians for nearly 30 years.
And while elections “are always about the incumbent,” Madonna said, this one in particular is about President Trump. “Overwhelmingly, Democrats say they are voting against Trump as opposed to for Biden, and Republicans say they are voting for Trump, not against Biden.”
Of course some, like Kay Lowe of Morton, can’t stand either candidate. “I’m not voting. I can’t. I couldn’t live with a clear conscience knowing I put one of these men in offi ce,” she said.
Let’s be patient
But while most voters seem to have picked who they want to win the election, they likely will have to wait before they know who won.
“Eleven times more Pennsylvanians cast mail ballots in this election than they did in the 2016 election,” said Claire Kovach, a senior research analyst who undertook an election day study for Keystone Research Center.
Because Pennsylvania law does not allow the counting of mailed- in ballots to begin until Election Day, counting them all will take more time than most of us are used to waiting.
“Pennsylvanians are urged to be patient as the votes are counted on Election Day and the days following, as mail ballots take longer to process and will delay election results,” said Kovach.
MediaNews Group newspapers and websites will refrain from reporting election results until we can be relatively sure all votes have been counted.