Pa. election went smoothly, Wolf administration says
Pennsylvania acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid said late Tuesday the election went well across the state with a few isolated glitches, including an unspecified “e poll book issue” in Lehigh County and a petition to keep four Montgomery County precincts open later.
Degraffenreid gave no extra information on the Lehigh County issue. County registration and elections chief clerk Tim Benyo was not immediately available for comment after the e poll book issue was raised.
Earlier in the day, Benyo estimated turnout in the county would hit 30% of registered voters. If that prediction held true, it would be the highest municipal election turnout in the county in at least 10 years.
Lehigh’s turnout in 2019 was 23.6%; in 2017, it was 22.1%; 2015, 20.9%; 2013, 21.6%; and in 2011, 21.5%.
Benyo said mail-in ballots played a significant part in pushing up the turnout.
As far as issues with this year’s election, Benyo said, “I wouldn’t say there is anything crazy out of the ordinary.”
Ed Hozza Jr., chairman of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee, and Republican Committee Chairman Joe Vichot said in separate phone interviews they were not aware of any significant problems in Lehigh County voting.
Amy Cozze, chief registrar for the Northampton County Election Division, also said the election appeared to run smoothly, with no major issues.
A petition was filed in court in Montgomery County, Degraffenreid said, to allow four precincts to remain open for an extra hour because they had opened late. It was not immediately clear if that petition was granted.
The top Republicans on the House and Senate State Government committees — the legislative committees that deal with election issues — both said they knew of no widespread problems.
Republican Rep. Seth Grove of York County, who chairs the House State Government Committee, said he had heard of a few cases of individual voting machines not working, as well as some confusing emails received by York County voters pertaining to mail-in ballots.
Overall, though, he said the day seemed quiet. The Senate State Government Committee leader, David Argall of Schuylkill County, said early in the evening he knew of no problems.