Pennsylvania voters should expect to cast their ballots as usual this fall, Secretary of State Al Schmidt said, despite ongoing court battles over efforts by the Trump administration to restrict mail voting.
“At present, nothing has changed for the coming election,” Schmidt said.
His comment comes amid a court battle that has created uncertainty over mail-in ballots and unsupported claims that thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote in the commonwealth.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March that seeks to require states to provide the U.S. Postal Service with lists of approved mail-ballot voters. It also calls for specially approved ballot envelopes with unique tracking barcodes, and would permit the Postal Service to refuse ballots from voters who do not appear on the federal lists.
Pennsylvania, 22 other states and the District of Columbia sued the administration, arguing Trump was usurping authority the Constitution assigns to states and Congress. Democratic leaders and voting-rights organizations filed similar lawsuits.
A U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani initially blocked enforcement of the order for the 2026 election. The administration then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency intervention. Pennsylvania and the other states responded that forcing changes so close to the election could disenfranchise voters and force counties to replace election materials they had already purchased.
The Supreme Court lifted the injunction, reasoning that the challenge was premature because federal agencies had not yet adopted final implementing rules — not because the justices had concluded that Trump’s order was lawful.
However, after the U.S. Postal Service moved to finalize its implementing rule, the states renewed their complaint and Talwani issued a preliminary injunction preventing the USPS from enforcing the new requirements. The administration again sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court but, as of Wednesday afternoon, the high court had not issued a new ruling, leaving the new rules blocked.
As a result, Schmidt said, voters can plan to cast their ballots by mail as usual, hand-deliver them to a county election office or use an authorized drop box where counties provide them.
Although the Supreme Court could again alter the legal landscape before Election Day, Schmidt said Pennsylvania would challenge renewed attempts to impose the requirements.
“The U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states the primary authority over election administration, not the federal government,” Schmidt said. “Pennsylvania’s 67 counties will continue to administer elections under their established procedures and in accordance with the law.”
The deadline to register for the general election is Oct. 19, while mail-ballot applications are due by 5 p.m. Oct. 27. Schmidt advised voters who are returning ballots through the mail to allow enough time to ensure their county election office receives them by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
‘No evidence’ noncitizens are voting
Schmidt also pushed back against a federal claim that 14,576 potential noncitizens may be registered to vote in Pennsylvania, saying the Department of Homeland Security has not provided the state with evidence supporting the figure.
In July, U.S. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to Schmidt and three other secretaries of state claiming that tens of thousands of noncitizens were illegally on their voter rolls. Schmidt requested evidence but said that DHS has not yet responded.
“The Department of Homeland Security has not provided us with any written or detailed description of the methodology they used to support its claims,” Schmidt said. “To date, all we have are unsupported accusations in a letter.”
DHS officials have since acknowledged they did not have high confidence that all of the people identified were noncitizens improperly registered to vote.
Schmidt said noncitizen voting is “extremely rare,” but emphasized that his office investigates credible evidence of illegal registration or voting and refers suspected criminal activity to law enforcement when appropriate.
“This is an issue that I’ve worked on for more than a decade now, since my time as a county election official,” Schmidt said. “It is something that my office takes seriously when there is credible evidence that an ineligible individual is registered to vote.”
He also rejected attempts to identify supposedly ineligible voters by comparing voter registration records with lists of people disqualified from jury service.
Conservative activists, including Scott Presler’s Early Vote Action, have requested nonjuror records from Pennsylvania counties, arguing that they can use the information to locate noncitizens on the voter rolls.
Schmidt said the comparison is unreliable because nonjuror lists contain only names and reasons for disqualification, without addresses, Social Security numbers or other information needed to establish that two records belong to the same person.
The lists also represent a moment in time, he said. Someone disqualified from jury service because of citizenship status could subsequently become a naturalized citizen without the older nonjuror record being updated.
“Analyses of voter lists that have relied on faulty methodologies such as this lead to inaccurate results and false claims about the citizenship status of eligible voters or, even worse, eligible voters being prevented from voting,” he said. “The Pennsylvania Department of State and our county partners use methods, tools and data that are reliable to make sure our voter rolls are maintained in accordance with all applicable laws.”
Schmidt said election misinformation remains one of his chief concerns ahead of November. He urged voters to rely on their county election offices and the Department of State’s official website for information.
He also said counties are still recruiting some of the roughly 45,000 poll workers needed to operate more than 9,000 polling places across Pennsylvania. County election offices provide training and pay poll workers for their service.
Federal agents at polling places
Schmidt also addressed questions about whether the Trump administration could send federal law enforcement officers or military personnel to polling locations.
Pennsylvania law generally prohibits police officers from coming within 100 feet of a polling place unless they are voting, serving a warrant or responding to a disturbance that is interfering with voting. Federal law also restricts the deployment of military personnel at polling places and makes it a crime to intimidate voters.
“My office expects everyone working in, voting in or observing polling places to follow the law,” Schmidt said.
He said the Department of State frequently communicates with county election administrators, Pennsylvania State Police and other law enforcement partners to ensure voting proceeds safely.
“We’ll work with them to ensure that Pennsylvania again will hold a free, fair, safe and secure election,” Schmidt said.
The White House previously said there were no “formal plans” to deploy federal immigration agents at polling sites.
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