Special election draws voters — even ones that don’t live in 18th District
Voters in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District were not the only ones who headed to the polls Tuesday in a neck-and-neck special election that caught national attention.
Confused voters in Pennsylvania’s 17 other congressional districts left angry calls and messages with their local elections offices after finding their own polls were closed Tuesday.
Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said voters in Sewickley and Monroeville had complained that their polling places were closed — polling places that are not part of the 18th District, although Monroeville is actually divided among the 12th, 14th and 18th districts.
Ms. Downs also told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that election officials received “many calls [Monday from] people who were confused because they thought they were voting but couldn’t find their polling place on the list” of active voting stations.
The 18th Congressional District covers portions of Allegheny, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Officials also heard complaints from Beaver County, none of which is in the 18th District.
Dorene Mandity, the elections director in Beaver, confirmed that “we’ve been getting calls for the past week, with people wanting to vote absentee or by emergency ballot because they weren’t going to be here [Tuesday].”
When they are told they are not eligible to vote, she said, “Some are understanding, but others argue with you and say, ‘Why can’t I vote?’ You have to explain that we aren’t in the district.”
Ms. Mandity blamed that on the massive blitz of TV ads. “They are so overabundant, and you are viewing them whether you live in the district or not. When I started seeing the ads, I knew we’d be getting calls.”
Ms. Mandity said she’s also noticed a small number of lawn signs in her county. “I saw one in Ambridge, I think, and thought, ‘Who put THAT there?’”
Confusion about who gets a say in the race appears to have extended across Pennsylvania. State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, whose family has Pittsburgh roots but who hails from York, tweeted this morning that “People at my gym in York this am were asking me where they vote.”
Northampton County registrar Dee Rumsey said her office received more than a dozen calls before noon Tuesday from outraged voters demanding their constitutional right to vote.
In a rare step, Ms. Rumsey’s office updated its website to stress that the election was limited to the southwestern counties.
Tim Benyo, chief clerk of elections for Lehigh County, said his office received numerous calls in the past week as voters checked whether they were registered to vote. Between the unusual nature of the special election and the breathless coverage about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent decision on redistricting, he said he was surprised he wasn’t getting more calls.
“It’s — unfortunately — very common,” Mr. Benyo said of confusion around special elections. “Everything kind of gets lumped together.”
The 18th Congressional District race between Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone drew millions of dollars from the national parties and political action committees. U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, a Republican, resigned the post in October after the public learned the pro-life politician had pressured his mistress to get an abortion when he thought she might be pregnant, and mistreated staff.
The candidate who wins Tuesday will complete Mr. Murphy’s term, which was set to expire at the end of the year. If the winner wants to remain in office next year, he’ll have to win the primary and general elections, which are scheduled for May and November, respectively.
While President Donald Trump won the heavily Republican district by 20 points, a late poll showed Mr. Lamb, a Marine and former U.S. assistant district attorney, with a narrow lead over Mr. Saccone, a fourterm state representative. And with 99 percent of the vote in Tuesday night, Mr. Lamb was ahead by 95 votes. Absentee ballots are likely to determine the outcome of the race.
Mr. Benyo and Ms. Rumsey said a message board shared by county election officials have shared similar stories of confused voters.