County certifies primary results

The Berks County results of the primary election are official.

The county elections board Monday certified the vote totals. And now that the outcome of the contests are finalized, there is a clear picture of which Democratic and Republican candidates will face off in the November general election for seats in the 11 legislative districts and three congressional districts that include the county.

Independent and thirdparty candidates still have a chance to petition to get on the fall ballot.

Here are some takeaways from an unusual primary:

Turnout exceeded expectations

Despite the public health crisis, there were 78,801 total votes cast in the primary election.

Deborah Olivieri, director of elections, said she had expected the turnout rate to hover around 20% since that is what it was the last time an incumbent president appeared on the ballot in 2012. But the rate for 2020 ended up being much higher at 34%.

A total of 40,890 Democratic and 37,580 Republican votes were recorded. Nonpartisan votes were counted at 331 in the city where there were five ballot questions facing Reading residents.

Overall, Democrats cast about 3,100 more votes for president than Republicans did in the June 2 contest, despite neither party having a competitive presidential primary. But the November election will be a very different contest because the parties will be directly competing with each other.

Voting by mail proves popular

The introduction of widespread voting by mail in the Keystone State turned counting votes from a breathless sprint into a grueling marathon. Berks was no exception. It took local elections officials two days to count the surge of ballots sent by mail over safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. That meant the candidates running in the three competitive contests were forced to wait to see who voters selected to move forward to the fall election.

The mail ballots played a crucial role.

While the ballots cast by voters at the 202 precincts in the county on Election Day were tallied and reported that night, those votes represented less than half of the total number that were cast, marking the first time in modern history that more ballots were cast by mail than at polling locations.

More than two dozen staffers, some pulled from other county departments, worked to get the ballots counted. The ballots were opened manually and run through two digital scanners that tallied the votes.

Olivieri said the county received 38,975 ballots by mail and recorded 38,150 ballots cast on voting machines. Those numbers reflect a turnout rate that far surpassed her prediction.

Reading voters want change

Voters in Reading overwhelmingly supported proposed changes to the city charter.

They decided to set term limits for the mayor, city auditor, City Council and council president. They also backed proposed amendments that would give the city auditor and City Council authority to manage employees in their offices.

In addition, voters approved an amendment that would give City Council its own solicitor and an amendment that would eliminate the administrative services department and split it into two departments, finance and human resources.

All registered voters in the city, regardless of their party affiliation, could vote on the ballot questions.