Wed. Nov 27th, 2024

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt addresses the press on Wednesday Nov. 6, 2024. (Commonwealth Media Services)

Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt made his final election night appearance around 1 a.m. on Wednesday as ballot counting continued.

“Given the late hour, this will be my final public update for the night,” Schmidt said. “I’ll resume providing updates as needed for the night.”

Schmidt took questions from journalists largely focused on instances that threatened to interrupt polling throughout election day, including bomb threats sent to polling places and government buildings where ballots were being counted. 

The bomb threats, Schmidt said, were deemed not credible. 

“Members of the public were never endangered, although [the threats were] obviously intended to disrupt the process of voting,” Schmidt said. Though at some locations where ballots were being counted, officials had to make decisions with law enforcement regarding whether or not to evacuate

Regarding a local Judge of Elections in Fayette County who threatened to disrupt the chain of custody of cast ballots and perform an unauthorized hand count, Schmidt said he believed that no such action ever transpired. The ballots were ultimately surrendered to county officials whose duty it was to count them.

Schmidt was also asked to respond to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s claims on social media early Tuesday evening that there was “massive CHEATING in Philadelphia.” Local officials had already soundly rejected the claim.

“I would let the facts speak for themselves,” Schmidt said. “When people make accusations, I would expect them to follow up with facts to support those accusations.”

In 2020, Schmidt, a Republican, found himself in Trump’s crosshairs after the former president made other baseless accusations of cheating in Philadelphia during that year’s presidential election. 

Schmidt was serving as a Philadelphia commissioner at the time. He was mentioned by Trump multiple times on social media in connection to alleged and unproved accusations of election fraud. This led to threats against Schmidt and his family, who had to relocate and were assigned police protection.

On Tuesday evening, when discussing bomb threats made at polling places and municipal buildings during the late hours of the election, Schmidt appeared to invoke that time.

“I’ve had experience with threats of violence and they’re not always credible,” Schmidt said. “You always have to take them seriously, but threats are intended to intimidate and coerce, and our election officials and our voters are not going to be intimidated.”

Schmidt said he will make further public updates about the election on Wednesday as needed.

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