Primary Election Issues Help Pennsylvania Voting Officials Plan For November Election
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Election Day may be over, but they are still counting ballots in many counties.
And many voters, including people who wanted to vote but couldn't, are worried about what this means for the presidential election this November.
So what are the lessons learned that nobody wants to repeat?
First, don't blame the election workers. Most did a fantastic job under trying circumstances.
But let's face it, changing poll locations, long lines, new ways of voting, mail-in ballots that never arrived — everybody knows it has to be better this fall.
"We've got to take careful stock of what happened, where the seams and fissures were in the process, and then put together a realistic practical plan on how to recalibrate, readjust and reinvest for the fall," David Thornburgh, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Wednesday.
WATCH: FULL INTERVIEWS WITH DAVID THORNBURGH, SUZANNE ALMEIDA
Thornburgh, son of former Governor Dick Thornburgh, says each county now needs to conduct an after-action review.
Part of the problem is that election officials were overwhelmed by this new mail-in voting system.
"That turns county boards of elections into a kind of giant mail house, processing mail, scanning ballots, counting ballots. And this is just something they've never done before," says Thornburgh.
"This is incredibly concerning, and a problem across the Commonwealth," adds Suzanne Almeida, the interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania.
Almeida says getting applications and ballots out to voters much sooner would help.
"Counties need resources to hire staff to process these ballots. They need resources to bring in things like high-speed scanners that will allow them to move more quickly," says Almeida. "Elections in Pennsylvania and across the country are criminally underfunded."
Here's some good news.
The law allowing counties like Allegheny to consolidate voting places only applied to the primary.
So it's back to your regular voting place this fall.
Click here for the latest election results.
