What Experts Are Saying about Election Security

With just weeks to go before the Nov. 5 general election, election experts at every level are working overtime to engage voters and encourage them to learn more about how the process works. Voters across Pennsylvania deserve to be confident in the tried-and-tested systems that ensure results are delivered fairly and accurately.

During a public event at Saint Vincent College in Unity, Westmoreland County Elections Director Greg McCloskey described the many safeguards in place that ensure an accurate count of the ballots and keep voting machines secure.

Transparency is key, he said. “We have people watching us, the poll watchers, the authorized representatives there to make sure everyone follows the law,” adding that post-election audits are conducted to make sure everyone gets to vote who legally can vote and everyone’s vote gets counted.

In an interview with Votebeat | SpotlightPA, Lauren Cristella, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Philadelphia-based Committee of Seventy, a SecureVotePA partner, highlighted the many systems in place that have been proven to protect votes and ensure election results are accurate.

“They were truly asking me, could I, with a straight face, say that elections in Philadelphia were free and fair, safe and secure,” she recounted. “I said ‘To my bones, yes. I believe they are.’”

Cristella explains that she knows the people who make elections happen – friends, neighbors, co-workers – and she has personally seen all of the steps in action to ensure a safe, secure election. In Philadelphia alone, she notes there are more than 1,700 precincts that, when fully staffed, have five workers each, including at least one from each party, and they are open to observers from both parties and all campaigns. For her, seeing is believing.

A lot has changed since the pandemic, when Pennsylvania allowed mail-in voting to go along with traditional in-person voting, with many built-in systems to ensure the process goes smoothly.

“I do think that our counties have learned a lot since 2020 on how to basically run two elections on the same day,” Lisa Schaefer, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Also, under a state law signed in 2022, counties receive more money to help them staff up and administer elections to deliver results quickly and accurately. “We plan to have pretty health staffing when it comes to opening ballots and getting them scanned,” Beaver County Director of Elections Colin Sisk said.

All these officials are doing important work to ensure voters know our elections are safe and secure, with layers of checks and balances before, during and after the election to protect your vote and ensure accuracy in the results.