Making votes count: For election workers in southwestern Pennsylvania, it’s almost go time

Elections officials across southwestern Pennsylvania said they have strong interest from poll workers despite — or perhaps because of — increased attention on the presidential race and the state’s leading role. 

They also say they’re prepared for an election where emotions are high on both sides. In deep red Butler County, where a man attempted to assassinate GOP presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, election officials have received some verbal threats. 

“Mostly, that they’ll be very pissed off if they don’t get their ballot by a specific date and they’ll be back,” Director of Elections Chantell McCurdy said, responding to questions by email. “We also get a lot of hate mail/letters telling us we’re ruining the country, etc.”

Poll workers have raised concerns about the election, and Butler’s elected constables went through training over the summer to ensure they are ready to “preserve the peace at the polling locations if need arises,” McCurdy said. 

Pennsylvania stands out as the largest swing state, with 19 electoral votes, tying with solidly Democratic Illinois for fifth-most votes among all states and Washington, D.C. Recent polling shows a close race in Pennsylvania between Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump in the Nov. 5 election.

That means elections divisions are on alert.

“Every year, there’s something different, whether it’s a person trying to cause trouble at a polling place, someone trying to intimidate voters,” said Bethany Hallam, Allegheny County Council member-at-large and a member of the Elections Board.

“There’s always something that you can’t expect, and so I’m just trying to figure out what that is because I have seen the Elections Division prepare for, like, every single scenario imaginable.”

She added she feels “super confident” about how the election is being run in the county.

Allegheny County recruited 6,700 poll workers as of the end of September. That’s about 97% of the maximum number of poll workers the county will hire this year. 

Interest in working the polls generally goes up during a presidential election year, and Allegheny County had higher participation in 2023 and 2024 than in previous years, county spokesperson Abigail Gardner said.

In every election, about 70% to 75% of those are returning poll workers, Gardner said.

Beaver County Director of Elections Colin Sisk says the presidential election — his first as director for the county of 165,000 — is translating to more enthusiasm when recruiting poll workers. 

So far, they’ve signed on about 445 people to work the polls.

“We’re in a high-visibility state, high-visibility cycle,” Sisk said.

During off-presidential election years – when local offices are up for grabs – it’s harder to find people, Sisk said, because there is less awareness that the elections are occurring.

Poll workers are receiving the same training as in prior years since there is “not a strong sense of tension,” according to Sisk, who describes himself as “cautiously optimistic” about the election.  

Typically, Butler County ends up with about 800 poll workers, with slight fluctuations depending on need. Currently, the county has fully staffed those positions, in part due to the increase in interest because it’s a presidential election, McCurdy said.

Westmoreland County has a surplus with extra poll workers ready to step in if other poll workers don’t show up. Around 1,700 have been recruited for Election Day. 

According to Director of Elections Greg McCloskey, in-person voting will be more manageable because Westmoreland received more than 50,000 applications for mail-in or absentee ballots. 

Westmoreland has received no credible threats of violence, McCloskey said.

“Some people have a concern, but that’s not keeping them from volunteering to be a poll worker,” he said. “They’re aware that, you know, every presidential election in the last three cycles does have some degree, more than other election cycles, of concern.”

In Allegheny County, Hallam is optimistic.

“Our elections have run really smoothly with polling places opening on time, and, you know, very, very minor [incidents] at polling places,” Hallam said. “I’m expecting that to be kept up.”

Elections divisions in Fayette, Indiana and Washington counties did not respond to inquiries for comment prior to publication. This story will be updated when and if a response is received.

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