State, counties met challenge of election
Pennsylvania has been the hinge on the White House door for the past two presidential elections.
Pennsylvania long has been considered a presidential “swing” state, to the point that it has been the hinge on the White House door for the past two presidential elections.
Because of that, its elections have received greater national scrutiny than those in most other states. That especially was true this unique and uniquely awful year, in which the presidential election occurred amid an out-of-control pandemic, its resultant economic fallout, and severe political polarization at the state Capitol that adversely affected counties’ ability to quickly compile votes.
Luckily, the state Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf agreed in 2019 to replace the state’s absentee ballot system, one of the nation’s most restrictive, with universally available mailin balloting. That proved prescient when the pandemic hit, creating the foundation for voting to take place while mitigating the risk inherent in large crowds at polling places.
At the last minute, however, the Republican legislative leadership refused to allow processing before Election Day of more than 2.4 million mailed ballots, despite requests from election officers statewide and the state Department of State.
That effectively guaranteed the excruciatingly long vote count beginning with the close of polls that finally culminated with Scranton native Joe Biden carrying the state and becoming president-elect.
All things considered, state Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and her team deserve credit for meeting the challenge. She laid out for the Legislature and the public the likely course of the vote count — absent authority to begin processing early — more than a month before it occurred and nailed it.
Across the state, thousands of election workers earned their titles as public servants, working long hours under great pressure to produce a transparent, accurate tabulation.
It’s obvious that mail voting is here to stay. With the volatility of this election cycle past, the Legislature should revisit the Election Law and authorize processing mailed ballots before Election Day to ensure timely and accurate counts statewide.
When big things happen in the world, the job of hometown papers is often to find a way to connect it to the local community.
The 2020 election turned that on its head. The battle for the presidency may have been a national story, but that was in large part because it was a Pennsylvania story.
The story of the election needs to be something that is less about a winner and a loser and more about the participation of the people.
It is about people who were worried about jobs in the coal industry in 2016 and the fracking fields in 2020. It is about people who were worried about losing their health insurance and people who were concerned they couldn’t afford to use theirs. It is about rural voters protecting their Second Amendment rights and urban ones utilizing their First Amendment ones.
This isn’t just a reaction to the pandemic or the economic fallout, not to the impeachment or the 2016 election. The divisions that have separated us have become deeper with each blow. But they have been there much longer than political rhetoric would suggest.
When Joe Biden was named the president-elect with the awarding of Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, it was the culmination of years of pushing and pulling. That’s how it’s supposed to be. An election is adversarial. It is literally a war of words.
But whether Biden was your candidate or not, the war is over.
No one should stop advocating for things they believe, matched by verifiable facts. Those diverse ideas and opinions aren’t just a part of Pennsylvania — and America. They are a big part of what makes our communities and economy the vibrant, creative and industrious entities that they are.
But now is a time to show what comes next. And that has to be participation and cooperation.
All eyes were on Pennsylvania for the counting. It is in Pennsylvania’s hands to lead the way, showing how those citizens that became engaged voters can stay on that path of public service, becoming active, informed residents that are committed to participating in all levels of their government.