Voting in Pennsylvania’s primary election appears to be going smoothly today, according to election integrity monitors, with only a few reports of minor hiccups amid apparently low turnout through mid-afternoon.
Voters have been calling in various typical problems to election protection hotlines. Those include errors in mail ballots, such as incorrect handwritten dates, that they must fix by the close of voting at 8 p.m. if their votes are to count, representatives of Common Cause Pennsylvania and the ACLU of Pennsylvania said this afternoon.
“As with any election day, there are always a few issues that crop up,” said Philip Hensley-Robin, Common Cause PA’s executive director. “We’re fortunate and happy to see that there aren’t any big systemic issues in the reports that we’re getting in from around the state.”
Among the specific reports they’ve received are of the slightly delayed opening of a polling place at Seafarers Union Hall in the 39th Ward in South Philadelphia. It did not open at the official 7 a.m. starting time for voting, but opened shortly thereafter.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Election Task Force also hasn’t seen any significant problems, despite a false alarm earlier in the day, a spokesperson for DA Larry Krasner said.
Concerned residents had contacted the office to report that two people were going to various polling locations and representing themselves as agents with the U.S. Justice Department, spokesperson Dustin Slaughter said.
“Upon investigation, prosecutors with the ETF confirmed that they are indeed agents with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division doing routine election monitoring, specifically about language access at polling locations,” he said.
The Justice Department subsequently announced it is monitoring the election in Berks, Luzerne and Philadelphia counties to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws such as the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.
In North Philadelphia’s 47th ward, a judge ordered the confiscation of misleading sample ballots that state Auditor General candidate Lewis Nash was handing out to voters, the Inquirer reported. The ballots had inaccurate language saying they were paid for by the city’s Democratic Party, and falsely suggested Nash had the party’s endorsement, the paper said.
In fact, the party endorsed another Auditor candidate, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. Nash was for years the 47th ward leader, but recently lost his position after he was recorded making anti-LGBTQ comments at a ward meeting.
For some observers, a bigger concern than election irregularities has been widespread low turnout.
With the presidential and U.S. Senate nominations already locked up, there are no high-profile races on the primary ballot this year and visitors to polling places this morning reported seeing relatively few voters.
Voters struggle with Passover scheduling conflict
Election experts have been concerned that having a primary election during the Passover holiday would make it difficult for observant Jewish voters to cast their votes.
In Pittsburgh, some voters were confused today about where to vote because their usual polling place, a synagogue, could not be used, said Marian Schneider, senior policy counsel for voting rights at the ACLU of PA. The election signage at the replacement site, a high school, was inadequate, Hensley-Robin said. The problem was reported to Allegheny County election officials.
State legislators had discussed changing the election date to avoid Passover but could not reach an agreement in time.
The problem was exacerbated by a delay in sending out mail ballots, which was caused by a legal dispute over whether ballots turned in with incorrect or missing handwritten dates should be counted, Schneider said. Those who cannot vote during the Sabbath, which runs from Friday evening through Saturday evening, or on Passover, which began Monday, may have little or no opportunity to cast ballots this year.
“Say they didn’t get their ballots this past Friday — that could cause a problem with getting the ballot back in time. The religious holiday complicates an already complicated situation,” she said.
Recruitment of poll workers, poll watchers and election protection volunteers was also affected by the holiday, although Schneider said there have been no unusual reports of poll worker shortages.
“I would strongly encourage the Pennsylvania General Assembly not to have the primary on Passover again,” she said.
A national Election Protection Hotline can be reached at 866-OUR-VOTE for English speakers, in Spanish at 888-VE-Y-VOTA, in Asian languages at 888-API-VOTE, and in Arabic at 844-YALLA-US.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office’s Election Task Force hotline is at (215) 686–9641, and the Pennsylvania Department of State offers an online form for reporting election complaints.
