This article was originally published By Let him votea nonprofit organization focused on local election administration and voting access.
by Carter Walker, Votebeat
Pennsylvania announced its 2024 general election results on Wednesday, all but finalizing a process that many said had been contentious.
Each of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties had to first certify their local results. Several missed the November 25 deadline due to outstanding provisional ballots or delays caused by the start of a recount in the U.S. Senate race.
Commonwealth Secretary Al Schmidt received the last of their original certificates earlier this week and then signed off on this year’s competition results.
“After carefully reviewing county election results, I am pleased to confirm that Pennsylvania had a free, fair and secure general election on November 5,” Schmidt said in a news release. “I thank district election officials for their hard work in preparing and conducting the elections efficiently.”
According to the department, more than 7 million Pennsylvanians voted in this year’s election, representing a turnout rate of nearly 77%, a slight boost from last year. Turnout in 2020 will be 76%..
Anything that threatened to complicate or prolong the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results never materialized: No rogue county commissioners objected to signing the original county certifications, lawsuits over the election results never surfaced, and candidates never challenged the results.
Ultimately, the state avoided the tumultuous post-election atmosphere that followed the 2020 contest, when then-Pres. Donald Trump the campaign aimed to reverse his loss through lawsuits and a plan present alternative voters.
That same year, the state certified the November 24 election. This date was well in advance of the delayed 2022 midterm certification, when conservative vote recount petitions postponed the signing of the contract to December 22.
For most races, Wednesday’s certification marks the end of the process. But when it comes to the presidential election, there are two steps left to finalize Trump’s Electoral College victory.
First, Governor Josh Shapiro must sign a certificate of affirmation by December 11 authorizing the state’s 19 electors to cast their votes for Trump during the Electoral College meeting. Electors will then meet on December 17 in Harrisburg.
Earlier legal disputes set the stage for the election
The 2024 election cycle in Pennsylvania was rife with litigation leading up to Election Day, ran relatively smoothly on Election Day, and the recount was canceled before it was completed.
In the months and years leading up to the Nov. 5 election, litigants argued over various aspects of the election code, including whether voters whose absentee ballots were rejected due to technical errors had the right to cast a provisional vote and have it counted.
Several cases involved whether to count absentee ballots whose return envelopes were not properly dated. The issue has been in dispute since 2020, resulting in dueling court rulings that are misleading voters.
An unresolved issue is whether counties are required to notify voters when they plan to reject their absentee ballots. A case from Washington County the hearing of this case, arising from the April primary hearing, is pending before the state Supreme Court.
Additionally, the Supreme Court has not ruled whether rejecting absentee ballots because they were not properly dated on the return envelope violates the state constitution. The issue resurfaced after the Nov. 5 election, when several counties opted to count such ballots, forcing the court to step in and tell them not to do it. However, the Tribunal did not address the constitutional issue.
On Election Day, the state largely avoided high-profile blunders, including: No ballots available in Luzerne County which caused confusion at polling stations in 2022 – this would trigger scrutiny.
The only exception was Cambria County, where a misprint occurred prevented tabulation machines from scanning some ballots. That forced the county to count some ballots by hand, create duplicates on properly printed ballots that could be collated by machine, and order last-minute replacements. Dozens of Pennsylvania counties were also the target of false bomb threats, similar to those seen across the country, that briefly disrupted voting and vote counting in some places.
Counties processing absentee ballots much faster than in 2020when sluggish counting prevented the media from picking winners for several days. New equipment and more experience have helped election departments become more proficient.
One U.S. Senate race took several weeks after Election Day to resolve. Democrat official Bob Casey he lost to a Republican Dave McCormick just a few thousand votes. Casey initially stood his ground, and the race was so close – within half a percentage point – that an automatic recount was triggered.
Some counties were still completing the primary vote count and deciding which provisional ballots should be included at the start of the recount. However, when these tasks were completed in all 67 counties and it became clear that Casey would not make up the deficit, the senator admitted on November 21and the recount ended before it was completed.
Carter Walker is a Votebeat reporter with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at cwalker@votebeat.org.
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