This is how precincts in Pa. handle unexpected issues on Election Day

On Tuesday, millions of people in Pennsylvania will travel to their local polling place to cast a ballot.

Election officials want everything to go smoothly, but disruptions sometimes happen.

The most common disruptions at precincts are late openings, lack of staffing and voting machine issues, according to Jeff Greenburg, a 13-year election director veteran. He is now a senior advisor on election administration for The Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan organization focusing on engagement and public policy advocacy.

Anyone can report a problem with the election process. They can call their county elections office, contact the Department of State, or reach out to a voter hotline run by nonprofits.

What if my polling place doesn’t open on time or is not fully staffed?

Sometimes workers arrive late or facility owners forget to unlock the doors on time, Greenburg said.

Polling places open on Tuesday at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 8 p.m. Anyone in line to vote when polls close will be allowed to cast a ballot.

Voters can find their local polling place online.

“County election offices will have contact information for both poll workers and facilities in the event doors are locked or poll workers don’t show up,” Greenburg said.

If there is a shortage of workers at a polling place, workers can be shifted from other locations or recruited, Greenburg said. Pennsylvania law allows workers to fill a vacancy with someone who has come in to vote if that person is willing to help.

What if there are voting machine issues?

There are multiple backups in place so voters can cast a ballot if there are issues with the voting machines.

Greenburg said counties typically have roving technicians respond if issues arise. He said they are dispatched as quickly as possible once the issue is reported.

Typically, reports go from the precinct to the county election office. If the issue cannot be resolved or if legal action is required, the county solicitor and Board of Elections will determine if any further steps are required.

“If there is a significant enough impact on the voting location, the BOE could petition the county courts to extend hours,” Greenburg said.

Each county election office has a process in place to disseminate important information on Election Day. This can be through the county’s website, social media accounts or through local news outlets.

“People should only rely on trusted sources for this information,” Greenburg said. “Whether it’s through the county’s web site or social media accounts, or through local media outlets.”

Counties also have emergency paper ballots if machines cannot be repaired or replaced on Election Day.

Eva Weyrich, Juniata County’s director of elections, said the county only uses paper ballots and each polling place has one machine tabulator.

Even if something goes wrong with the tabulator, voters will still be able to fill out their ballots while a technician travels to the precinct to fix the issue.

Weyrich said the county has never had a machine go down for the whole day.

Juniata County prefers the hand-marked paper ballot system, according to Weyrich.

“We can always go back and hand-count the ballots to verify that the machine was accurate,” Weyrich said.

Forty-seven counties have voters fill in ballots by hand. The other 27 have voting machines that print paper ballots with the voter’s selections that can also be audited after an election.

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This story is part of an explanatory series focused on Pennsylvania elections produced collaboratively by WITF, led by democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie, and The Associated Press.

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The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here.