Long lines greet early voters at some precincts in Washington Co.
Courtesy of Diana Irey Vaughn
The lobby of the Southpointe Hilton Garden Inn was packed Tuesday with Cecil Township voters as they attempted to make their way to the new voting machines.
Courtesy of Bob Pinarski
Many were standing in line to vote at South Hills Bible Chapel in Peters Township at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Long lines greeted voters in Washington County early Tuesday as a flurry of people flocked to the polls, but the crowds tapered off as Election Day went along.
David Podurgiel, the Republican committeeman for North Strabane’s No. 1 precinct at the township’s fire hall on Route 19, said he takes pride each year of being the first person to vote, but he arrived at 6:01 a.m. and was 10th in line.
A woman who was first in line arrived at 5:15 a.m., he said, and the line had about 200 people in it when the polls opened at 7 a.m. Podurgiel spent the day outside the polling place and greeted voters as they entered at a steady pace, but without lines.
“Based on coronavirus, people are working from home and they’re flowing in,” Podurgiel said, noting voters were dressed more casually than in the past when they may be coming directly from work.
Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi experienced a similar early-morning rush when he arrived at his polling location at the Buffalo Township Municipal Building about 8:30 a.m. and saw a line of about 200 people wrapped around the building.
“Holy cow. I’ve been coming here for years and have never seen anything like this,” Maggi said during a phone interview. “Wow, this is unbelievable. Wish I would’ve voted absentee.”
Maggi said the elections staff spent the day opening all 36,479 mail-in ballots and planned to have them counted by late Tuesday. That work was being done without the commissioners since Nick Sherman tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and Diana Irey Vaughn reported Monday she has symptoms, although she has tested negative twice. Maggi, who said he was feeling fine, was roving the county Tuesday monitoring polling places to ensure there were no issues with the process.
“We’re doing OK. It’s a little crazy,” Maggi said.
A long line stretched out at two precincts at the South Hills Bible Church in Peters Township just as the polls opened, and the lobby of the Southpointe Hilton Garden Inn was packed with Cecil Township voters as they attempted to make their way to the voting machines. An influx of voters was also at Trinity Church on South Main Street in Washington when the polls opened, although there was no wait by 9 a.m.
The new voting machines, which print a paper ballot for voters before they’re scanned and counted by a collection machine, appeared to work well in just their second election in Washington County. Thomas Nickel of North Strabane said the process was a little different this year, but he appreciated the help from poll workers who showed him how to vote on the new machines.
“It was a little different with the new voting machines, but there are a lot of good people to help us,” Nickel said.
While Nickel voted around lunchtime when there was no wait, his wife, Joyce, arrived at 7 a.m. and waited in a long line that stretched to the police department’s entrance around the side of the township’s municipal building.
Tammy Post followed Thomas Nickel out of the precinct and called the process seamless. It was the first time she had voted in many years.
“This year got me off my button,” she said. “I felt it was important, the most important.”
At the South Strabane Municipal Building, voters were in and out quickly. Scott and Mary Held said they wanted to vote in person because they “trust it more” than the mail-in process. Both were concerned about how those votes – and provisional ballots – will be counted across the state, leading to the potential of an elongated canvassing schedule.
“I think they’re going to fight about it,” Mary Held said of the presidential candidates after Election Day.
Provisional ballots are given to people who requested a mail-in ballot and either didn’t receive them or didn’t have them. Those people could vote using the provisionals, and their vote will only be counted after elections officials confirm that the person did not vote by mail.
In Fayette County, Charles and Barbara McDonald arrived at their South Union Township polling location but were told they had requested mail-in ballots. The couple didn’t recall requesting them and claimed they never received them.
They filled out provisional ballots and received a number to call after at least seven days, where they will give their voter ID and determine if their ballots were “counted, partially counted or not counted” and file a complaint if necessary.
“Now we have to wait a week to find out if our vote counted,” said Barbara McDonald. “It’s just ridiculous. If someone voted for us, we won’t know.”
Charles McDonald said problems like theirs will make voters question the entire electoral process and its legitimacy.
“What if it doesn’t count? I voted,” Barbara McDonald said.
Meanwhile, if a person who requested a mail-in ballot brought it to their precinct, it can be “spoiled” and the person is then allowed to vote on the machine. Maggi said there was one issue at an undisclosed polling location in Washington County where the judge of elections was asking those voters to use a provisional ballot, but that situation was corrected after a voter called the elections office to complain.
Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar asked for people to be patient as they work through the vote count and figure out which provisional ballots should be accepted. Greene and Fayette counties planned to count the mail-in ballots Wednesday, while Allegheny and Washington counties did that work Tuesday.
“Everybody should be patient,” she said Tuesday morning. “We expect ballots to be counted in a couple of days.”
As of Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania’s 67 counties had sent 3.08 million ballots, and about 2.5 million had been returned, which represented an 81% response rate. More than 65% of the returned ballots were from Democrats, while more than 23% came from Republicans and the remaining 11% from independents.
Herald-Standard staff writer Alyssa Choiniere contributed to this story.