2020, important Battleground States Pennsylvania faced major turmoil, including election protests, legal battles and threats against election officials, including Republican Al Schmidt.
Schmidt previously served as Philadelphia's elections commissioner, overseeing the city's elections, and now serves as secretary of state, the state's top elections official.
He said the biggest threat to the 2024 presidential election is high turnover among officials responsible for running elections.
“Some people, threat“Some people left because it was time to retire,” Schmidt said.
More than 80 senior election officials have retired from two-thirds of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, and Schmidt said replacing longtime officials with less experience increases the likelihood of election errors.
An analysis of last year's general election in Pennsylvania found that ballot errors doubled in the state's municipal general elections between 2021 and 2023. These errors included incorrect instructions to voters about the number of candidates they should vote for, duplicate ballots being sent to the same voter, precincts or candidates being omitted from the ballot, improper voting instructions and spelling errors.
“There is no room for error in running an election. There are no do-overs or redoes,” Schmidt said., He added that despite the mistakes, corrective measures had been taken to ensure the accuracy of the results.
Dauphin County's new elections director, Chris Spackman, will be overseeing the presidential election for the first time this year. Spackman, who previously served as deputy director, has received guidance from his fellow elections directors and his predecessor and feels well supported in his new role.
But not all counties have the same level of support. In some counties in Pennsylvania and across the country, a single person is responsible for managing the entire election process. In these cases, they often must rely on other county departments and offices to ensure the integrity of the vote.
“But our experience is that there are checks and balances built into the system to ensure that election results are accurate and that people can have confidence in the results,” Schmidt said.
A CBS News poll found that 72% of Pennsylvania Republicans do not believe President Biden is the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, and Schmidt urged those with doubts to get more involved in the electoral process.
“When I meet with the people who are in charge of running our elections, I don't know if they're a Democrat or a Republican, and I don't care if they're a Democrat, I care if they're running our elections in a way that's free and fair and safe and secure,” Schmidt said.
Looking ahead to Nov. 6, the day after Election Day, Schmidt said he has a clear hope that news outlets will report that “Election Day went well in Pennsylvania.”
