(The Center Square) – Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt gave a briefing Monday ahead of Tuesday’s general election.
With polls closing at 8 p.m., Schmidt said the state will announce results online as they come in across its 67 counties.
Perhaps the most closely watched issue on the ballot is retention for three of the state’s seven Supreme Court justices. After Republicans saw an opportunity to shift the balance of the court by ousting some of the justices on the state’s highest courts, both parties spent huge sums on the election.
Republicans at the highest level have urged Pennsylvanians to vote against retaining Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht. Democrats have set abortion, voting and workers rights among the issues at stake if the justices are lost.
Asked his thoughts on the matter, Schmidt said the campaign spending could serve to drive higher-than-usual voter turnout for an odd-year election.
Schmidt also spoke to a federal court decision that will have an impact on tomorrow’s election. In August, the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the state couldn’t throw out ballots with missing or incorrect dates written on the outside of the envelope.
Schmidt said the requirement to date the envelope led to the rejection of ballots where the voter forgot to write the date or wrote an incorrect date, like their birthday. Schmidt said that this occurs “infrequently” but noted that “every vote is precious.” Those infrequent occurrences can add up to thousands of ballots.
“When that happens,” Schmidt said, “the Board of Elections knows when that ballot was returned. They know it was returned by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, and they’ve time stamped it, so that date really has no material impact on whether the voter returned that ballot in time or not.”
Other key information the Department of State wants voters to remember includes polling hours, which are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the state. Voters should know that as long as they are in line by closing time, they are allowed to cast their ballots. Mail-in ballots must also be returned to county election boards by that time.
First-time voters and those who have relocated to a new precinct must have identification available in order to cast their ballots. If someone requested a mail-in ballot but opted to vote in person, they must surrender their mail-in ballot at the precinct.
Some voters may find themselves in the wrong place. For voters who moved and haven’t updated their address, they’re allowed a final vote in their previous precinct. Voters who believe they should be on a roll at their precinct but aren’t can cast provisional ballots.
Some counties notify mail-in voters of errors in their ballots. In those cases, they are generally allowed to submit provisional ballots at their polling places.
Schmidt also reminded voters they have the right to assistance, including language and literacy. They also have the right to vote without harassment and can report intimidation or discrimination to their county board of elections or district attorney.
