Harrisburg, PA – Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said today’s municipal primary election in Pennsylvania ran smoothly, with county elections boards reporting only minor, isolated issues.
“As always, I’d like to thank the hundreds of county election officials and the approximately 45,000 poll workers who made democracy possible today,” Schmidt said. “Because of them, Pennsylvanians were able to securely cast their vote at more than 9,000 precincts across our 67 counties.”
Registered Pennsylvania voters received about 800,000 mail ballots for this primary election. As of 7:30 p.m., counties were reporting about 70% of those ballots had been returned.
Final voter turnout numbers will be available in several days, after all eligible votes have been counted, but anecdotal reports indicate turnout was typical for municipal primary elections.
A handful of counties reported minor issues throughout the day, such as precincts opening a few minutes late. The Department offered its assistance to counties as they resolved those issues.
Department of State staff received about 500 calls today via the Commonwealth’s voter hotline (1-877-VOTESPA), which compares to about 600 calls during the 2023 municipal primary election. Most callers had questions about their voter registration status, polling place location, or mail ballot.
As unofficial results become available from counties, they will be posted on the Department’s elections return site at electionreturns.pa.gov. The site provides statewide totals and county-by-county breakdowns of each race by votes cast in-person on Primary Day, votes cast by mail ballot, and votes cast by provisional ballot.
Schmidt reminded Pennsylvanians that results on the Department’s returns site are unofficial until certification happens in a few weeks and that increases in vote tallies in the coming days are to be expected as county officials canvass all ballots, including mail ballots, military and overseas ballots, and provisional ballots.
Schmidt also thanked federal, state and local partners who helped ensure the security of today’s primary election.