Officials: State guaranteeing a fair election
Voters are reassured of integrity, security
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG — With Donald Trump suggesting to supporters that the presidency could be stolen from him, Pennsylvania’s secretary of the commonwealth assured voters Thursday that the state’s elections process will be fair and accurate.
Pedro A. Cortes, the state’s chief election official, disputed suggestions that the voting system lacks integrity or security.
“This is not only wrong and uninformed, it is also dangerous,” he said. “To imply that fraud is rampant at any level, from the precinct to an entire city or state, is without merit and lacks any credence or proof within the modern history of elections in this country, including this commonwealth.”
Last week, at an appearance in Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Trump suggested that the election could be unfairly lost in the state.
“I just hear such reports about Philadelphia,” he said at the time, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We have to make sure this election is not stolen from us.”
Mr. Cortes said that all voting systems in use in Pennsylvania have been examined and certified to federal and state standards.
The state’s voting machines are not connected to the internet or to one another, he said. After a preelection accuracy test, he said, the machines are locked to detect tampering.
Mr. Cortes warned that intimidating or harassing voters is illegal. Publishing misleading or false information about voting can be a form of voter intimidation, he said.
“Whoever thinks it is cute or funny to post messages on social media or through some other means to mislead the voters about the process of voting in Pennsylvania and voter’s rights will be investigated and very likely prosecuted,” he said.
He said that poll watchers must be identified in advance — they are appointed by the parties and candidates — and must receive credentials from the county boards of elections. A poll watcher must be a registered voter of the county in which the watcher is appointed.
“Watchers may not engage voters or otherwise interfere with the orderly process of voting,” he said. “Watchers should direct all challenges and other comments directly to the judge of elections, who is the official in charge at the polling place.”
With the election less than three weeks away, partisans on both sides are preparing their own efforts to monitor the polls. Some say they are stepping up such activity in response to Mr. Trump’s rhetoric — and suspicions of what the other side will be doing in turn.
“Trump has come here three or four times and explicitly talked about the system being rigged, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to think some people may be inspired or encouraged by his rhetoric,” said Pittsburgh attorney Cliff Levine, who serves as co-counsel to state Democrats.
Mr. Levine said Democrats hope to increase the number of lawyers statewide ready to respond to Election Day issues. Normally, about 1,500 attorneys serve around the state; they are aiming to increase that to 2,000 to 2,500 on Nov. 8. They mostly will be acting as poll watchers. A person doesn’t have to be a lawyer to be a poll watcher, of course, but the advantage for Democrats is that if a legal dispute arises, they don’t have to call an attorney — the attorney is already there.
State GOP spokeswoman Megan Sweeney said Republicans aren’t doing much differently from previous years, though she said she’d been getting a lot of media calls and they were “telling volunteers at the polls to be respectful.” Asked about challenges in previous election cycles, she said, “the reason we all have Election Day operations is to make sure people maintain their confidence in the system. And if they have concerns, there is an outlet for them” in the process.
“I’m not really worried” about disruptions, added Mr. Levine, “but we have a heightened level of focus because of what Trump has been saying. We’re addressing that and we’re prepared.”
“Every year you hear ‘they’ll do this,’ or ‘they’ll do that.’ But this year, you see things on social media and hear some disconcerting rhetoric,” said Khari Mosley, a trustee of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and coordinator of their Justice Can’t Wait Campaign. The non-partisan voter-engagement and election-protection effort will be active in nine counties in western Pennsylvania on Nov. 8.
“The part we’re doing differently this year is we’re putting a premium on covering communities outside Allegheny County,” said Mr. Mosley, noting that even in largely white counties like Fayette, Beaver, and Mercer, there are precincts where at least 40 percent of voters are African American. Mr. Mosley said he’d have resources devoted to more than 100 such precincts, covering nearly 70,000 voters, on the theory that in a racially charged election season, “There’s a greater probability of issues there.” While he, too, said he didn’t expect problems, “it’s not just about protecting voters, but about de-escalating situations as much as possible.”
Tricia Cunningham, a volunteer coordinator for the Trump campaign who has been active in Western Pennsylvania, says Mr. Trump’s allies also will be expanding their efforts. She said she hopes to have poll watchers in place in such Democratic bastions as the 14th Congressional District, which includes Pittsburgh. Along with poll-watchers enlisted by the party and other GOP candidates, she said, “We want anyone trying to defraud the election that we mean business.”
“I don’t want to say we’re policing the polls, but we are,” she said.