HARRISBURG, Pa., May 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- An hour after
Pennsylvania's polling places
closed, Acting Secretary of State Kathy
Boockvar reported no major problems or incidents during
today's primary election.
"Fair weather across the commonwealth and dedicated hard-working
poll workers and county election officials made today a calm,
smoothly run primary day," Secretary Boockvar said. "Turnout
appears to have been modest, which is typical for a municipal
primary. We will have an unofficial estimate of turnout in a
few days."
By the time polls closed at 8
p.m., Department of State staff and volunteers from other
state agencies had answered 743 calls received via the
commonwealth's voter help line (1-877-VOTESPA). Most callers wanted
to check their registration or find their polling place.
"We were very pleased to see that the nine counties that used
new voting systems today did not report any significant problems,"
Boockvar said.
Eight counties rolled out new voting systems today, including
Bradford, Centre, Crawford, Greene,
Indiana, Lawrence,
Montgomery and Pike counties. Susquehanna County first deployed its new
voting system in November 2018.
The Department of State informed counties in 2018 that they
have until the end of 2019 to select new voting systems that
provide a paper record voters can verify before casting their
ballot. The new systems must be in use by the 2020 primary. Paper
records allow for more accurate and reliable post-election audits.
The new voting systems also have enhanced security features.
Unofficial election results can be found on the department's
election night returns website at electionreturns.pa.gov. The site
provides statewide totals and county-by-county breakdowns of each
race, as counties report their results to the department.
For the first time, the department moved its election-day
operations to the Pennsylvania
Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), where state election experts,
security professionals, department staff, call center volunteers
and state emergency personnel monitored developments throughout the
day.
"Because we were all under one roof, we achieved, on this busy
day, greater efficiency and better coordination with our state,
local and federal security partners," Secretary Boockvar said. "We
thank PEMA for their hospitality."
MEDIA CONTACT: Wanda Murren, 717-783-1621
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SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of State