Tens of thousands of voters in Allegheny County went to polling places on Tuesday in what Gov. Josh Shapiro called a high turnout election — but as operations remained mostly smooth locally, several other counties statewide extended polling hours due to bomb threats, ballot scanning issues and other logistical hurdles.
Lines were long at several precincts in the Pittsburgh region and across Pennsylvania, as voters young and old traveled to polls in Pittsburgh, the surrounding suburbs and counties, and beyond to cast ballots in a tight and divisive presidential race.
Cambria County extended voting to 10 p.m. because software malfunctions hampered voting in the county for hours after polls opened. The issue had been corrected by late morning. In Luzerne County in the northeast, a small borough remained opened until 9:30 p.m. because polls did not open until around 8:30 a.m. — an hour and a half after polls opened.
Some places, including Philadelphia, saw bomb threats that local officials said were not credible. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, said there was “massive cheating there,” a statement that Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner denied due to a lack of evidence.
But for the most part, issues at polling locations remained scarce, including in Allegheny County. Of more than 1,300 polling places, one location in Whitehall opened after 7 a.m. because a judge of elections was late, county officials said. Another in Pittsburgh, at Lincoln Place Presbyterian Church, also did not open on time because the judge of elections did not show up.
But voters were allowed to vote provisional ballots or wait until the polling book arrived, county officials said. It got there in the morning hours and there were no further incidents.
Many precincts throughout the region reported high voter turnout. That, combined with Allegheny County leading the state in terms of mail-in ballot requests, could lead to a historic number of people casting ballots in the county and beyond.
Students at the University of Pittsburgh and other college campuses flooded their polling places with lines stretching out doors and snaking around corners. The suburbs and counties surrounding Allegheny County also saw many voters, according to poll workers.
Ms. Harris needs to rely on urban areas like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to turn out in order to win, according to many political observers. And many in the Steel City and surrounding suburbs were casting their ballots for her.
That included Will Sinclair, 21, a student at Community College of Allegheny County. He said abortion was top of mind as he voted Tuesday.
“It’s absolutely disgusting that anyone would seek to take that right away,” Mr. Sinclair said in Swisshelm Park. “It stems from centuries and centuries of misogyny.”
Others throughout the region supporting Trump cited economic and immigration as important issues driving them to the polls.
Rachela Seaman, 55, was one voter who supported Trump for such reasons at Cornerstone Ministries in Murrysville.
“They hate Trump, they hate Trump,” Ms. Seaman, a registered Republican, said of some voters, “but you know what he’s not the president for you to like him. He’s there to do what’s best for our country.”
But despite emotions running high among Democrats, Republicans, independents and others on Tuesday, few issues were reported at polling places locally.
Up to three people did block a polling place temporarily in Carrick around 6:30 p.m. but they were gone before sheriff’s deputies arrived, according to the Allegheny County sheriff’s office.
There were some other problems statewide. In Cambria County, issues with ballot scanners caused some polling places to pause processing, but voters were still able to cast ballots Tuesday, while election officials safeguarded the ballots while the problem was being diagnosed and fixed.
A local judge also ruled to extend polling hours to 10 p.m. in Cambria. Typically, polls close at 8 p.m. statewide.
In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner had warned during a Monday news conference for no one to mess with election operations, declaring: “Anyone who thinks it’s time to play militia, F around and find out.”
Shortly after polls opened, he told reporters that “some behavior … is a little bit more aggressive than what we have seen in the past,” including the illegal use of recording equipment.
On Tuesday, he told the Post-Gazette in a statement that claims by Trump that there was massive cheating were false.
“We have invited complaints and allegations of improprieties all day,” Mr. Krasner said. “If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now. We are not holding our breath.”
After polls closed, Mr. Krasner told reporters that there were multiple “phony bomb threats” at polling locations across Philadelphia. All the locations were cleared and only one was closed for 23 minutes, with that location remaining open for an extra 23 minutes.
“No one hurt,” he said. “No boom.”
At a news conference in Harrisburg, Mr. Shapiro said that multiple bomb threats called into polling places and municipal places statewide posed “no credible threat to the public.”
Secretary of State Al Schmidt, alongside the governor, said that outside of those threats, Tuesday was “a free, fair, safe, and secure” election.
There were many lines at polling places and it was “very busy even for a presidential election year.” But election officials were able to deal with the isolated, localized issues — some of those are typical in every election, Mr. Schmidt said.
One of them was In Luzerne County, where a judge ordered polls in Laflin to remain open until 9:30 p.m. One polling location there did not open until 8:30 a.m. Back in Allegheny County, some voting machines were briefly jammed in Peters, but elections officials quickly diagnosed that issue and fixed it.
“We’ve had about eight paper jams, which is kind of unusual,” said Lawna Blankenship, an elections judge at Peters Township Community Recreation Center. “It’s more than usual, but it doesn’t matter. Our job is to make sure everyone gets to vote.”
At an elections warehouse on Pittsburgh’s North Side, more than 200 county workers helped precanvass mail-in ballots, opening two sets of envelopes with each ballot and scanning them. Unofficial results would not be available until after 8 p.m.
Most of their work opening mail-in ballots had concluded before 6 p.m.
In Clearfield County, a local judge allowed polls to remain open until 9 p.m., due to a bomb threat at the Clearfield County Administrative Building, where votes were being counted.
Meanwhile, voters continued to stream into polling locations throughout Pittsburgh and the state throughout Tuesday. Judith Painter, 77, a retired Republican, voted for Ms. Harris and Democratic incumbent Bob Casey for U.S. Senate. Mr. Casey is facing Republican Dave McCormick for that seat.
Like others supporting Democratic candidates, Ms. Painter said abortion was a big issue.
“That doesn’t mean I’m against people who do not believe in having an abortion, that is certainly their right as a human being,” Ms. Painter said at her polling location in Mount Washington. “Everyone’s right is in whether they choose or do not choose, but the word is choice.”
But economic issues had others voting for Trump. That included Jack Burke, 82, of Ross.
“I feel in the last four years, things have been going downhill,” said Mr. Burke, a lifelong Democrat. “Prices have been going up and we’re on Social Security. Each year, it’s getting harder to keep up.”
As voters continued to cast ballots Tuesday, election workers across the state continued the process of counting them.
That included in Philadelphia. Many eyes are fixed on the latter city, with tensions high at polling places and a heavy police and security presence in northeast Philadelphia.
But — like had been occurring at many polling places and election counting facilities across the Commonwealth on Tuesday, activity remained calm.
“We were told to be prepared for some [protests] just in case, but we haven’t seen any,” said one private security guard in Philadelphia who did not give his name. “Everybody’s got a job to do.”
Ford Turner, Hanna Webster, Megan Guza, Madaleine Rubin, Benjamin Kale, Samuel Long, Maddie Aiken, Laura Esposito, Mary Ann Thomas, Jacob Geanous, Megan Tomasic and Kris B. Mamula.
First Published: November 6, 2024, 3:46 a.m.
Updated: November 6, 2024, 10:38 a.m.
