More than 1.7 million Pennsylvanians cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary election, accounting for about one out of four registered Democrats and Republicans eligible to vote.
There were no significant disruptions to polling sites. Secretary of State Al Schmidt said Tuesday’s smooth voting process is thanks to at least 45,000 poll workers.
“These are your neighbors who work at your local polling place. They are the ones who make our democracy possible,” Schmidt said, and added, “Because of them, Pennsylvania held a free, fair and safe election yet again.”
He thanked the hundreds of county officials who organize elections. They also counted more than 650,000 mail ballots that had been returned as of 8 p.m. Tuesday night.
Their work isn’t done. County election officials still have to process provisional, overseas and military ballots, meaning vote totals are likely to increase slightly in the coming week. Then, officials will audit the results before making them official in the first week of June.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.