More than half-way through 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.
Turnout is reportedly high across the region. But while two polling places started off with the kinds of minor delays that are to be expected, county spokesperson Abigail Gardner said no other locations have had problems thus far.
A judge of elections who showed up late at a polling place in Whitehall, and a Lincoln Place election judge from whom deputies had to recover a poll book before voting could begin. But otherwise there have been few logistical issues.
Meanwhile, all of the 215,000 mail-in ballots returned to the warehouse as of this morning have been removed from their inner secrecy envelopes and prepared for the scanners. Scanning ballots for tabulation began around noon, and county workers continue to pre-canvas newly arrived ballots.
Voters still holding on to their mail-in ballots can hand them in at the County Office Building downtown (542 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219) until 8 p.m. tonight. USPS will also continue to deliver ballots returned via mail to the warehouse throughout the day.
Gardner said she expects unofficial results from most of the county’s mail-in ballots to be posted to the elections dashboard around 8 p.m.
The high turnout means that lines at some polling places have been long, inlcuding the line for voting at the Semple Street polling place for Oakland’s 4th 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 had been bringing 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.”
Other counties had more difficulty. 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.
The only serious dispute in Allegheny County involved a heated race for state House District 44, where Democratic challenger Hadley Haas has 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 county’s 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 do not include her name — therefore the sign was misleading because by the date on it, Nov. 4, she had filed all her paperwork. (Haas’ reports cannot be accessed on the department’s website, but that is true of a number of candidates, including Gaydos.)
Judge John T. McVay ordered that the signs be corrected, but 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. The political parties are allowed 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 give 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.
