Election Day 2023 In PA: Voter Info, How To Report Problems

PENNSYLVANIA—Pennsylvania voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday, selecting new judges in the state's courts and deciding on a number of local issues including town councils and school boards.

Election Day this year in Pennsylvania comes amid a national exodus of election workers, and state officials said a majority of local election offices have seen their leadership leave in the past three years.

The basics - hours and what's at stake

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7 in the Keystone State. To find your polling place, click here to search by address.

Voters with mail-in ballots have to return them to their local board of elections or a drop-off box by 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

Around the state, voters will consider candidates for county, local, judicial, and school board races. In Philadelphia, the mayor's seat and several city council positions are on the ballot. And for the first time in a dozen years, Pennsylvania's second-largest county soon will have a new leader.

Keystone State voters will also elect a new justice to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and judicial seats for the state Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court.

As of Tuesday morning, the state has received 781,574 mail-in and absentee ballots, according to the daily mail ballot report.

• Check if you are registered to vote.
• Where can I drop off my ballot?
• Track my mail-in ballot.
• Where can I vote in person?

Security precautions and how to report voter fraud or rights violations

The Department of State oversees elections, and urges voters to report any polling place issues, election fraud, or civil rights violations on Election Day.

If you believe your right to vote has been violated, or to submit a complaint about possible voter fraud, click here to report it to the Department of State or call the state hotline at 1-877-868-3772. Potential violations are investigated by the county board of elections, district attorney, or Pennsylvania Attorney General.

Election worker exodus

A rise in threats and intimidation have pushed experienced election workers to quit or retire at a worrying rate, officials in Pennsylvania and several other key battleground states warned ahead of Tuesday’s general election and next year’s presidential race.

Al Schmidt, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, told a U.S. Senate committee last week that county election directors or assistant directors in 40 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have left their positions since 2020.

The false claims of a rigged 2020 presidential election have fueled a rise in harassment, threats, and online “doxing” of both paid election officials and temporary poll workers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In response, 11 states have enacted laws since 2020 that specifically address protections for election officials and poll workers, according to the NCSL. Pennsylvania is not one of them.

Election watchdogs are calling for more federal funding, and to extend a federal law that criminalizes the release of restricted personal information about federal workers to cover election officials. Schmidt, a former Philadelphia city commissioner, and other witnesses testified to this last week, during a U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing on threats to election administration.

Both Democratic and Republican election workers have been the targets of “threats and abusive conduct,” said Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

In Arizona, for example, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said someone poisoned the dogs of one county election chief as an intimidation tactic.

“We don’t feel safe in our work because of the harassment and threats that are based in lies,” Fontes said.

In his testimony, Pennsylvania’s Schmidt pointed to a 2021 survey of election officials, which found that one in three officials felt unsafe because of their job. Nearly one in five officials identified threats to their lives as a job-related concern.

Schmidt, a Republican, said he is one of the election officials who, after the 2020 election, began to receive threats of violence against himself and his family.

“Now, as a statewide election official, I see the broader effects and consequences of those threats, including high turnover among experienced local election staff and the need for robust training efforts resulting from that turnover,” he said.

Schmidt said the difficulty in retaining election workers and recruiting new ones is “one of the biggest challenges” in running elections. And, if experienced officials are retiring or quitting, they leave less experienced workers in charge who are more likely to make a mistake - which may further fuel conspiracy theories.

“(We need) better funding of elections in general and grants specifically appropriated to secure election offices and operations,” said Schmidt. “Our local election officials deserve to feel safe. And we need a continued commitment to prosecute individuals who threaten election officials. Their threats are a direct attack on democracy.”