Throughout an Election Day that many Americans viewed with trepidation, Allegheny County reported a near-total absence of problems at its more than 1,300 precincts.
The most potentially significant incident occurred late in the day, when Allegheny County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched around 6:30 p.m. to the Carrick neighborhood of Pittsburgh in response to a report that three people were harassing and intimidating voters at a polling place at Roosevelt School on The Boulevard. Mike Manko, a spokesman for the sheriff's department, said the county Elections Office received a complaint that those people were blocking people from voting at the school.
Common Pleas Judge Chelsa Wagner sent deputies to the school, with orders to take the three people into custody and bring them to the county election court, Downtown, Manko said. When deputies arrived, however, the three people had left the polling place. Manko said deputies remained there until polls closed at 8 p.m. to wait in case the three people returned.
Two other polling places started the day with the kinds of minor delays that often occur during elections, but county spokesperson Abigail Gardner said no other locations had similar problems.
A judge of elections who showed up late at a polling place in Whitehall, and deputies had to recover a poll book from a Lincoln Place election judge before voting could begin. But otherwise, there were few logistical issues through a day when turnout was reportedly high across the region.
Meanwhile, all of the 215,000 mail-in ballots returned to the Allegheny County Elections Warehouse by Tuesday morning were removed from their inner secrecy envelopes and prepared for the scanners. Scanning ballots for tabulation began around noon, and county workers continued through the day to pre-canvas newly arrived ballots.
Voters who held on to their mail-in ballots until Tuesday were able to hand them in at the County Office Building, Downtown, until 8 p.m. The U.S. Postal Service continued to deliver ballots returned via mail to the warehouse throughout the day
County Executive Sara Innamorato praised the work of elections workers Tuesday, saying "They did a tremendous job throughout the day."
“The workers that make elections run in Allegheny County are absolutely critical, and not only [for] securing everyone's right to vote, but to make sure that we can get those results out efficiently," she said. "And, you know, get [results] called for in Pennsylvania as soon as possible. because I know people around the nation are watching the work that we're doing here in Allegheny County and eagerly waiting for the results in Pennsylvania."
The high turnout meant that lines at some polling places were long, including the line for voting at the Semple Street polling place for Oakland’s Fourth Ward, 16th district. That polling place is frequently used by University of Pittsburgh College students. In the morning, waits were reportedly longer than an hour, due in part to a large number of first-time voters.
But local Democrats brought in water and other sustenance, and voters who spoke to WESA in the afternoon seemed unfazed.
“I'd be kind of sad if I got here and no one was here,” Devan Everette said. Still, she said, “I've waited in many lines for concert tickets and amusement park rides, so it feels like the most important line.”
Election officials throughout the state also reported high turnout and long lines, Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference Tuesday night. Other counties also reported more difficulties.
Multiple bomb threats were called in for polling locations and municipal buildings across the state, Shapiro said, although none of those threats was credible or presented a risk to the public.
Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman extended voting hours to 9 p.m. in that county after a bomb threat disrupted vote-counting at the county administrative building, Pennsylvania State Police, local police and the FBI are investigating the threats, the governor said.
In Cambria County, problems with ballot-scanning devices snarled voting and prompted a Common Pleas judge to extend voting from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., with voters obliged to complete provisional ballots in those two additional hours.
And in Fayette County, a judge issued an order barring Vincent Manetta, a judge of elections for Washington Township, from hand-counting or tabulating ballots rather than adhering to typical processes and equipment. County election officials reported that Manetta had stated his intention to hand-count the ballots cast in his township, leading to the court order.
The only other serious dispute in Allegheny County involved a heated race for state House District 44, where Democratic challenger Hadley Haas brought a spirited and well-financed fight to Republican incumbent Valerie Gaydos.
In fact, her financing became a point of contention. Democrats complained in the election court about signs posted outside polling places that sported a quasi-official-looking “PUBLIC NOTICE” asserting that Haas “and her out of state dark money fueled campaign” had failed to file a campaign finance report required before the election. The sign was paid for by a political committee which, campaign finance records suggest, has been supported by a number of Republicans, including a small-dollar donation from Gaydos herself.
Republican lawyers argued that Haas had at one point been listed on a list of candidates who had failed to file their reports with the Department of State. Democrats countered that Haas had filed the report, and current lists did not include her name — therefore the sign was misleading because by the date on it, Nov. 4, she had filed all of her paperwork. (Haas’ reports could not be accessed on the department’s website Tuesday, but that was true for a number of candidates, including Gaydos.)
Judge John T. McVay ordered that the signs be corrected, but he later amended his order to say the signs should be removed and stored as evidence.
“My campaign is in full compliance with the Department of State, my campaign finance reports were sent in on time, and I am not listed on the Department Of State’s Failed to File List,” said Haas in a statement. “I have run a clean, honest campaign and it’s unfortunate to have these false attacks against my campaign propped up in the final moments of this race."
McVay later ordered Democratic poll watchers to remove badges saying “PA Dems Voter Protection” while in polling places. Political parties are permitted to have poll watchers monitoring the voting process, but they are not allowed to wear clothing that espouses political candidates or causes. Democrats argued that there was no sign anyone was confused by the badges, but McVay said that given that policy, he would order the removal of the badges “out of an abundance of caution”
McVay finished up his shift on the bench without having to rule on another potential issue: A man who refused to leave a McKees Rocks polling place and claimed he was Senate candidate Dave McCormick. The man eventually did depart.
The court also ordered the Moon Area School District to stop inspecting and testing fire alarms in the high school cafeteria while voters from two precincts were casting ballots there.
