Vote here signs outside of Central Dauphin East Middle School in Lower Paxton Township during the Pennsylvania primary on April 23, 2024 (Jeremy Long - WITF)
Primary runs smoothly, election certification underway
Counties to process overseas and provisional ballots, then audit results, before certification
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Jordan Wilkie/WITF
Election administrators are touting the primary as a success in terms of the process.
The Pennsylvania Department of State and groups like Common Cause, which monitors elections, say only a low number of incidents occurred — all minor — such as slight delays in opening precincts and poor signage directing voters to the correct location.
Secretary of State Al Schmidt gives credit to the approximately 45,000 election workers, including county staff and poll workers.
“Because of them, Pennsylvanians were able to cast their vote at more than 9,000 polling places across our 67 counties and working a more than 13-hour day with minimum, minimal isolated issues,” Schmidt said at a news conference Tuesday night.
Schmidt has warned for months that new elections leaders are more likely to make mistakes in administering an election — since Pennsylvania has some of the highest election official turnover in the country since 2020.
“It went great, yeah, I’m not a novice voter. So it was very smooth, no lines,” said Mary Speca, a Cumberland County voter.
Turnout was relatively low for a primary that featured several high-profile races.
For example, the Democratic primary in the 10th Congressional District saw a 30% turnout with 60,300 votes — 19,000 fewer than were cast in the 2020 primary and about even with 2022.
County elections offices still have lots of work to do.
Results are unofficial until county officials count provisional and overseas ballots then audit the results. Counties must certify the primary results to the Department of State by May 13.