Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Pennsylvania’s free newsletter here.Despite the heat and a few isolated incidents, primary Election Day in Pennsylvania went smoothly across the state.While preliminary reports are that turnout was low, no major voting machine malfunctions, printing errors, or other issues popped up that significantly impacted voting. That said, minor issues arise in nearly every election, and Tuesday’s election was no different.Here’s a recap of how things went.Explosion scare in Lehigh CountyAccording to the Pennsylvania State Police, shortly after 9 a.m. someone threw an “explosive device” near the Salem United Church of Christ polling place in Catasauqua Borough, a suburb of Allentown in Lehigh County.Police said the device did detonate about a half-block away from the polling place, but that there were no injuries and voting was not disrupted. “No information exists to cause investigators to believe this incident was related to the polling location,” a press release said.The Morning Call reported Wednesday morning that two men, Matthew Pletz, 56, and Jack Pletz, 24, were charged for allegedly throwing a small homemade explosive from a truck as they drove in the vicinity of the polling place. It isn’t immediately clear whether the men are related.The Morning Call reported that 17 other small explosive devices were found in the truck, and that the men were charged with felony possession of weapons of mass destruction and risking catastrophe, as well as related misdemeanor crimes.Ballot mixups, extended hours, and missing data sticksAt polling places themselves, there were scattered reports of minor voting issues across the state — enough to cause headaches for a few hundred voters, but not to seriously disrupt the election.In York County, more than 200 independent voters faced trouble casting their votes in a special election for an open seat in the state House. CBS 21 reported that the voters did not receive their mail ballots, and the county advised the voters to either come vote a mail ballot in person at the election office or vote provisionally at their polling place.Elsewhere, in Chester County, voting was extended by 30 minutes in one precinct located at a middle school, due to a delay caused by needing to provide assistance to a member of the school community, WGAL reported. And in Allegheny County, the Western Pennsylvania county that is home to Pittsburgh, results in five precincts still have yet to be reported as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. A spokesperson for the county said poll workers forgot to remove the data sticks containing vote data from the precincts’ voting machines and return them to the county at the end of the night. “[It] happens with a handful of precincts every election,” Abigail Gardner, the spokesperson, said. Hot day at the pollsPerhaps the most broadly felt “issue” of the day was the heat.In Harrisburg, the state capital, the high hit 93 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.The Pennsylvania Department of State said it was the hottest primary on record since at least the mid-1980s. It’s impossible to know if this affected voter turnout, however. While research has shown that significant rain on Election Day can lower turnout, at least one study has found that high temperatures actually lead to higher turnout.Preliminary reports are that turnout in the primary was low — less than 20% of registered voters, according to unofficial results in the gubernatorial primaries. By comparison, 29.5% of registered voters cast ballots in the 2022 gubernatorial primaries. However, this drop likely had more to do with the fact that there were no high-profile statewide primaries this year. Neither Democrats nor Republicans had a contested primary for governor, leaving a few scattered congressional and legislative races as the main events.Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at cwalker@votebeat.org.
