(Left to Right) Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Sabir, Pennsylvania Secretary. of Commonwealth Al Schmidt, and Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein speak at the Philadelphia Election Warehouse on Oct. 25, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by John Cole)
PHILADELPHIA— Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt joined the elected officials tasked with overseeing the election in the state’s biggest county for a tour of the Philadelphia Election Warehouse Friday, to demonstrate how the vote-counting process will go on Nov. 5.
“We have an oversight responsibility, but far more importantly we have a supporting responsibility,” Schmidt said. “Elections are really run at the county level. It is the counties that run elections here in Pennsylvania.”
Schmidt served as a City Commissioner in Philadelphia for 10 years and oversaw elections in the city during that period, including the most recent presidential election in 2020. He said there’s “no place like home,” as Philadelphia was the final county on his statewide quest to visit all 67 counties’ elections offices ahead of Election Day.
At each station in the elections warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia, commissioners demonstrated how mail-in ballots are tabulated, where mail-in or absentee ballots are received, and where the ballots will be stored.
The city commissioners said they were confident the upcoming election will be safe and secure and it will not take as long to tabulate results in Philadelphia as it did in 2020.
“The beautiful thing about this election is that we’ll definitely be done faster, definitely done more efficiently,” Philadelphia City Commissioner Chairman Omar Sabir, a Democrat, said. “We’re going to give the world the election they deserve.”
A Republican member of the commissioner’s board agreed.
“We are going to run the safest, most secure election in Philadelphia history,” GOP Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein said. “We’re going to do it right from here and we’re going to make sure that with the eyes of the world on us, that everyone can see exactly what’s happening and understand the process of how ballots are counted in Philadelphia.”
The influx of mail-in voting during the 2020 presidential election contributed to delays in counting Pennsylvania’s ballots. Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes, with the race called in the Keystone State three days after Election Day.
Following the tour, Schmidt was asked if Pennsylvania will be the last state counting ballots in 2024.
“There’s a few things that have changed since,” Schmidt said. “There’s one thing that hasn’t changed since 2020 and that is the law that prevents counties from beginning to process mail ballots until 7 a.m. on election morning.”
An election worker shows one of the machines that sorts ballots at the Philadelphia Election Warehouse Oct. 25, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by John Cole)
Schmidt referenced red and blue states alike, including Florida, that allow pre-canvassing mail-in ballots prior to Election Day.
“But a couple important things have changed since 2020: Counties— Philadelphia and many others — have acquired additional equipment that will assist in processing ballots, whether it’s sorting them, time stamping them, opening the envelopes or anything else,” Schmidt said. “Counties have a lot more experience than they had in 2020 which is the first time any counties really dealt with that volume of mail ballots in Pennsylvania.”
Schmidt also added that there will be fewer mail-in ballots in the upcoming election in comparison to 2020, when many voters chose to cast mail ballots due to pandemic lockdown restrictions.
“So you have new equipment, you have more experience, and you have fewer mail ballots to count,” he said.
Schmidt wasn’t the only one to mention the process of pre-canvassing to reporters on Friday.
“We need pre-canvassing in Pennsylvania,” Sabir said, responding to a question at the envelope review station. “For us to start this process before Election Day, it would save us a lot of time to be able to produce the results a lot faster.”
Philadelphia City Commissioner Vice Chair Lisa Deeley echoed a similar sentiment.
“What you really want to take note of and really the purpose of this tour is that so you can understand when November 5th comes that we’re building up to the scanners,” Deeley, a Democrat, said at the scanning station. “So that’s why it takes hours, that is why we as county commissioners and county commissioners throughout the state have been begging the legislature for commonsense reform to allow us to start sooner, at least we can get some of the process completed.”
“We’re literally starting from brick one on Election Day and then we have to build enough to get to this point,” she added.
Sabir described the current process of it being “like three elections,” with 700 polling locations throughout the city, 10 satellite voting locations, and regular mail-in ballots as another reason it takes longer in Philadelphia.
Elections workers demonstrates how ballots will be counted at the Philadelphia Election Warehouse Oct. 25, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by John Cole)
Allegheny County, which is the second most populous county in Pennsylvania, tallied results faster than Philadelphia in previous elections, with officials there saying results should be ready by midnight in the upcoming election.
When asked about the time it takes Allegheny County to tabulate the vote, Sabir said they “want to make sure everything is right and above reproach.”
“And I love Allegheny County, but there’s only one first class county in the state of Pennsylvania and that’s Philadelphia,” he said, adding that they “just do a different process.”
Another issue the commissioners cited with delays, which are expected again Nov. 5, is the spread of misinformation.
“I believe the delay is such a problem because what it does is it allows time for mis- and disinformation to sneak in and to constantly be repeated,” Deeley said. “And the more people hear things, unfortunately, the more inclined they are to believe them.”
Sabir detailed one of the “crazy accusations” he saw on a blog that falsely accused him of going to Atlantic City and meeting with a mobster to destroy ballots.
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Sabir also said he believes that “low voter turnout is the result of misinformation and disinformation.”
Although the deadline to request for a mail-in ballot application isn’t until Oct. 29, Sabid said the county is expecting under 250,000, which would be a decrease from the previous presidential election. This should help the process move forward faster, however, he still couldn’t give a firm deadline on Friday of when he expects the city to be completed tabulating the vote.
“As we get closer to the election, we’re going to release a schedule,” Sabir said, citing “it’s going to be a lot faster,” with the help of new machines.
Bluestein, a Republican, earlier this week called out X owner Elon Musk for spreading election disinformation. He also emphasized the damage that can be done.
“Whether somebody has 200 million followers or two followers, it is incumbent upon all of us to get the facts right and only share accurate information about our elections,” Bluestein said. “Mis- and disinformation that spreads around can result in real harassment, real threats and real violence, and that is why it is so important for people to get accurate information from trusted sources and then make sure they’re only sharing information that is actually true.”
“It’s also why it is incumbent upon us as elections officials to correct the record when there is clearly inaccurate information being spread,” he added, saying no matter who is spreading it, the facts need to be kept in mind.
Sabir recognizes the importance of Pennsylvania in the upcoming election, telling reporters that it likely “will hinge on this state,” but he’s confident that the city is prepared.
“Philadelphia was the birthplace of democracy,” he said. “And I’ll be damned if democracy dies here.”
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