Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Election integrity: How Pennsylvania ensures safe and secure voting

Pennsylvania election vote box on red color background
Baris-Ozer/Getty Images

While elections work differently depending on where you live, all states have security measures to ensure the integrity of every vote. With that in mind, The Fulcrum presents a six-part series on how elections work in swing states. Created by Issue One, these state summaries focus on each state's election process from registration to certification.

Our freedom to vote in fair and secure elections is the foundation of our system of self-governance established under the U.S. Constitution. As citizens, we have a voice that many people around the world do not.


Because the majority of elections are run at a local level, the voting experience can be very different depending on where a voter lives, but all states, including Pennsylvania, have verification processes in place before, during, and after votes are cast to ensure the integrity of the election.

Here is what you need to know about how elections work in Pennsylvania to make sure that your vote is kept safe and secure and is counted with integrity.

Registration

To ensure their eligibility, all voters must register to vote in order to cast a ballot.

Ways to vote

Once registered, a voter in Pennsylvania may either vote in-person or through an absentee ballot. Both options have transparent processes to ensure ballots are kept secure and counted accurately.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Vote with a mail-in or absentee ballot:

  • Voters must fill out an application by 5:00 PM on October 29, 2024 to have a mail-in ballot sent to them. Election officials will review the application and confirm that the person applying is a registered voter and eligible to vote.
  • Mail-in ballots must be received by 8:00 PM on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5, 2024, to be counted.
  • See here for details: https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/vote/voter-support/mail-in-and-absentee-ballot.html

Vote early in-person:

  • Pennsylvania does not have in-person early voting; the only way to vote early in Pennsylvania is through a mail-in ballot.

Vote in-person on Election Day:

There are also options for military and overseas voting, more information is available here: https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/vote/voter-support/mail-in-and-absentee-ballot/military-and-overseas-voters.html

Track your ballot: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/BallotTracking.aspx

Securely counting every ballot during the voting period

Before, during, and after ballots are cast, Pennsylvania has procedures to review and verify election processes.

  • 48 states conduct some type of post-election audit. Pennsylvania is one of 37 states that require a traditional post-election tabulation audit, involving auditable paper ballots. These paper ballots are counted by a tabulation machine under the supervision of election officials and witnesses from the political parties and members of the public. Voters with disabilities may use a different type of machine to help them mark their ballot. These machines must produce a “voter verifiable paper audit trail.”
  • All voting equipment in Pennsylvania must meet rigorous security standards and is thoroughly audited. Voting systems are never connected to internet-facing networks, every county board inspects and tests voting and tabulating equipment before an election, and independent vulnerability assessments are performed to verify established protections.
  • Mail-in ballots may only be counted once the identity of the voter is verified by the county board.

Polls close and reporting begins

  • Counties typically begin reporting unofficial election results shortly after polls close. Counting mail-in ballots may take extra time due to the signature verification process required to ensure the integrity of every vote. No reported results are considered final until the election is certified.
  • The unofficial results of elections in Pennsylvania are available on this website starting after polls close at 8:00 PM on election night: https://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/

Certifying the election

  • The governing body conducting the election must meet to verify that the unofficial results reported in each precinct or election district were accurate. Final results are only declared after election officials go through steps to verify the count, checking for accuracy and resolving any error. During this process, known as canvassing, election officials thoroughly count every eligible ballot cast, check for duplicates, verify voter status, and give voters a chance to rectify mistakes that might otherwise disqualify their ballot.
  • Pennsylvania counties conduct two types of robust post-election audits: a 2% statistical sample recount and a statewide risk-limiting audit (RLA), which compares votes on paper to totals reported by vote-counting machines. These audits help ensure that voting systems were functioning properly and help confirm election outcomes.
  • By 5:00 PM on November 12, 2024 every county board of elections must share unofficial returns to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
  • Based on the unofficial results submitted, a recount is triggered on November 14, 2024 if an election margin is .05% or less. The results of the recount are reported on November 27, 2024.
  • November 25, 2024 is the last day for the county boards of elections to certify returns with the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Meeting of the Electoral College

  • Pennsylvania’s slate of electors meets on December 17, 2024 to send their certified votes for president and vice president to Congress.

Resources

For more information on how elections work in Pennsylvania, visit the Pennsylvania Voting & Election, Department of State: https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/vote.html

For additional national and other state-by-state information, go to https://www.howelectionswork.org/

Read More

Trump speaking on a crowded stage

President-elect Donald Trump speaks in West Palm Beach, Fla., on election night.

Brendan Gutenschwager/Anadolu via Getty Images

Once again I ask: Do presidential elections really matter?

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

In October 2012, I published an op-ed in the Huffington Post asking, “Do Presidential Elections Really Matter?” In May 2023 I wrote a similar column in The Fulcrum asking the question once again.

Unfortunately, in the 12 years since my first writing little has changed. Both Democrats and Republicans believe if their nominee gets elected, the serious problems our country faces will be tackled with a new vigor, and real change will actually occur. But is this really what history suggests will generally be the case?

Keep ReadingShow less
"Latinos for Trump" sign

A "Latinos for Trump" campaign sign posted in Houston.

Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Latino men help Donald Trump return to the White House

Balta is director of solutions journalism and DEI initiatives for The Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is publisher of the Latino News Network and a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network.

Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States, thanks in part to his major improvements in reaching the Latino electorate, especially Latino men.

Preliminary exit polls from CNN indicate that while Vice President Kamala Harris won a slim majority of votes with Latinos (53 percent), over half (54 percent) of Latino men supported Trump. In comparison, 45 percent backed Harris. Four years ago, the figures were nearly reversed. In 2020, 59 percent of Latino men supported Joe Biden, while 36 percent supported Trump, according to exit polls from that election.

Keep ReadingShow less
People processing ballots

Election workers process mail-in ballots in the ballot duplicating room run by the office of the supervisor of elections in Orange County, Fla., in October 2020.

Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

How do election officials verify voters and their ballots?

Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has continued to slam early voting and voting by mail at his rallies, a neighbor — a retired math teacher — asked me how we know that only registered voters are voting and people aren’t voting more than once.

It was barely after 7 a.m. and I was heading to a seasonal job at my county election headquarters. There, I was part of a team that was processing returned mail ballots and alternatively in a call center answering voters’ questions and concerns.

Keep ReadingShow less
Seth Masket

Election Countdown, with guest Seth Masket

Becvar is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and executive director of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund. Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Seth Masket is among a handful of political scientists around the country who are both entertaining and insightful. He’s a perfect guest for our final Election Countdown series because he manages to cut through the clutter and spin.

Masket is the director of the University of Denver's Center on American Politics, which supports deep community engagement and interdisciplinary research on crucial issues in American politics. The center is chiefly focused on the two institutions most central to the integrity and responsiveness of American politics — elections and political parties.

Keep ReadingShow less