Prepare now for November
Although overall voter turnout was down from the last presidential primary in 2016, Pennsylvania voters made a couple of things clear in this year’s primary election: They still want the option of going to the polls to cast their vote, but they are very much at ease with voting by mail.
With this being the first state election in which voters could opt for a mail-in ballot without any restrictions, officials expected an increase in voting by mail. When the coronavirus struck in mid-March and pushed the primary from April 28 to June 2, the state launched a campaign to encourage voters to use the mail option to reduce crowds at polling stations.
More than 1.4 million people chose to vote by mail, which was slightly more than half of the approximately 2.8 million voters who participated in this year’s primary. For perspective, the number of people who voted by mail in this year’s primary was roughly the same as the total number who voted in the 2018 primary.
Voter turnout dropped from 40% in 2016 to 35% this year, but the number could have been far lower without the mail-in option and the ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The fact that both parties’ presidential candidate had already been decided also likely contributed to a lower turnout.
As has been the case in most presidential elections, turnout in November will likely soar, and there is an expected increase in voting by mail. In the 2016 presidential election, more than 70% of registered Pennsylvania voters — 6.1 million total — went to the polls. This year, turnout will be split between those voting in person and those voting by mail.
Election officials statewide should make decisions now to make voting by mail as efficient as possible for those who want to do so in November, while still planning for in-person voting. Allegheny County, for example, decided to send all registered voters an application for voting by mail prior to the primary election, a move that other counties should follow. That gave voters the choice to apply for a mail-in ballot, or to ignore the application and wait to vote at the polls on election day. It also avoided the task of applying for a ballot online, by mail or in person.
Having seen the surge in mail-in requests during the primary, county election officials need to be prepared to process the thousands of requests for a ballot that will be coming in advance of the November election.
The state Legislature also needs to provide assistance to election officials as well in regard to the counting of mail-in ballots. Originally in the primary, the mail-in ballots were not to be counted until after the polls closed, but that was amended to allow counting to begin when the polls opened.
Still, the effort took days in some counties, and that is a warning sign.. Lawmakers should consider measures used in other states that allow counting to begin days or even weeks ahead of the election, with the stipulation that no results can be released until polls are closed.
Overall, Pennsylvania voters showed that voting by mail is a preferred choice for many. They were ready. It is not clear the state is.