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الوسم: precincts

  • Under lock and key: How ballots get from Pennsylvania precincts to election offices

    Under lock and key: How ballots get from Pennsylvania precincts to election offices

    Police escorts, sealed containers and chain of custody documentation: These are some of the measures that Pennsylvania counties take to secure ballots while they are transported from polling places to county facilities after polls close on Election Day.

    The exact protocols vary by county. For instance, in Berks County, poll workers will transport ballots in sealed boxes back to the county elections office, where they will be locked in a secure room, according to Stephanie Nojiri, assistant director of elections for the county located east of Harrisburg.

    In Philadelphia, local law enforcement plays a direct role in gathering ballots from polling places.

    “Philadelphia police officers will travel to polling places across the city after the polls close and collect those ballots to be transported back to our headquarters at the end of the night,” said Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein, who serves on the board that oversees elections in the city. “Each precinct is given a large canvas bag, and the containers that hold the ballots are placed into that bag and transported by the police.”

    After polls close in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, poll workers will transport ballots in locked, sealed bags to regional reporting centers, where the election results are recorded, said David Voye, division manager of the county’s elections division.

    From there, county police escort the ballots to a warehouse where they are stored in locked cages that are on 24-hour surveillance.

    Poll workers and county election officials also utilize chain of custody paperwork to document the transfer of ballots as they are moved from polling places to secure county facilities.

    For instance, in Allegheny County, chain of custody forms are used to verify how many used and unused ballots poll workers are returning to county officials, Voye said. Officials also check the seals on the bags used to transport the ballots to confirm that they are still intact.

    There are similar security procedures for counties that use ballot drop boxes to collect mail and absentee ballots. In Berks County, sheriff’s deputies monitor the county’s three drop boxes during the day, according to Nojiri. When county elections officials come to empty the drop boxes, which are secured by four locks, they unlock two of the locks, while the sheriff’s deputies unlock the other two.

    Officials remove the ballots, count them, record the number of ballots on a custody sheet, and put the ballots in a sealed box before they transported back to the county’s processing center.

    “There’s all kinds of different custody sheets and all that, again, is reconciled in the days after the election,” Nojiri said.

    Philadelphia has 34 ballot drop boxes, which are emptied daily and twice on Election Day by election workers, according to Bluestein. The bags used for transporting ballots from drop boxes are also sealed, and workers who are returning these ballots complete and sign a chain of custody form.

    “The transportation of ballots is done in a secure, controlled manner, and the public should have confidence in the integrity of that ballot collection process,” Bluestein said.

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    This story is part of an explanatory series focused on Pennsylvania elections produced collaboratively by WITF in Harrisburg and The Associated Press.

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    The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here.

  • How precincts in Pennsylvania handle unexpected issues on Election Day

    How precincts in Pennsylvania handle unexpected issues on Election Day

    On Tuesday, millions of people in Pennsylvania will travel to their local polling place to cast a ballot.

    Election officials want everything to go smoothly, but disruptions sometimes happen.

    The most common disruptions at precincts are late openings, lack of staffing and voting machine issues, according to Jeff Greenburg, a 13-year election director veteran. He is now a senior advisor on election administration for The Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan organization focusing on engagement and public policy advocacy.

    Anyone can report a problem with the election process. They can call their county elections office, contact the Department of State, or reach out to a voter hotline run by nonprofits.

    What if my polling place doesn’t open on time or is not fully staffed?

    Sometimes workers arrive late or facility owners forget to unlock the doors on time, Greenburg said.

    Polling places open on Tuesday at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 8 p.m. Anyone in line to vote when polls close will be allowed to cast a ballot.

    Voters can find their local polling place online.

    “County election offices will have contact information for both poll workers and facilities in the event doors are locked or poll workers don’t show up,” Greenburg said.

    If there is a shortage of workers at a polling place, workers can be shifted from other locations or recruited, Greenburg said. Pennsylvania law allows workers to fill a vacancy with someone who has come in to vote if that person is willing to help.

    What if there are voting machine issues?

    There are multiple backups in place so voters can cast a ballot if there are issues with the voting machines.

    Greenburg said counties typically have roving technicians respond if issues arise. He said they are dispatched as quickly as possible once the issue is reported.

    Typically, reports go from the precinct to the county election office. If the issue cannot be resolved or if legal action is required, the county solicitor and Board of Elections will determine if any further steps are required.

    “If there is a significant enough impact on the voting location, the BOE could petition the county courts to extend hours,” Greenburg said.

    Each county election office has a process in place to disseminate important information on Election Day. This can be through the county’s website, social media accounts or through local news outlets.

    “People should only rely on trusted sources for this information,” Greenburg said. “Whether it’s through the county’s web site or social media accounts, or through local media outlets.”

    Counties also have emergency paper ballots if machines cannot be repaired or replaced on Election Day.

    Eva Weyrich, Juniata County’s director of elections, said the county only uses paper ballots and each polling place has one machine tabulator.

    Even if something goes wrong with the tabulator, voters will still be able to fill out their ballots while a technician travels to the precinct to fix the issue.

    Weyrich said the county has never had a machine go down for the whole day.

    Juniata County prefers the hand-marked paper ballot system, according to Weyrich.

    “We can always go back and hand-count the ballots to verify that the machine was accurate,” Weyrich said.

    Forty-seven counties have voters fill in ballots by hand. The other 27 have voting machines that print paper ballots with the voter’s selections that can also be audited after an election.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

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    This story is part of an explanatory series focused on Pennsylvania elections produced collaboratively by WITF, led by democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie, and The Associated Press.

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    The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here.