Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Rallies for candidates were held throughout the county throughout the year. This group ultimately had the last word in a rally held at the Warren County Courthouse on the day Joe Biden was declared winner of the presidential election.

The year 2020 will be remembered for two things — the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the most brutal presidential elections in our nation’s history.

The long, winding road to Election Day really started here in February.

COUNTY PURCHASES MORE

VOTING MACHINES

After long lines at the 2019 election, Warren County’s Board of Elections formally signed off on the purchase of an additional 20 voting machines in February.

Elections Director Lisa Rivett said the additional machines increase the county’s lease cost from approximately $65,000 to $75,000 annually.

“We feel confident that the additional 20 machines will shore up the stock and it’s sufficient to conduct at the very least a primary election in 2020,”Commissioner Jeff Eggleston said.

Rivett cautioned that there will still be “long lines” for a presidential election but said that “going back to the number of machines we used to have… is going to make a difference.”

Local officials discuss election’s thorniest issue in February

Act 77 has brought a wealth of changes to voters in the Commonwealth.

It brought the term “mail-in ballot” into our lexicon.

One of the most impactful changes brought about by Act 77 was no-excuse mail-in voting. Those applications flooded the county in person, via mail or online.

“(I’m) getting phone calls… every five minutes,” she said, from people who want a mail-in ballot. “It’s going to take off really big I think.”

Oh, how right she was. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

NO SURPRISES AT JUNE PRIMARY

The returns from the election were decidedly without intrigue.

Warren County Republicans overwhelmingly selected President Donald Trump as its party nominee while the Democrats followed suit with former Vice President Joe Biden.

For Trump, 4,447 Republicans cast ballots with just shy of 400 going to other candidates or write-ins. Biden received 2,039 votes, well ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who finished second in the county with 334 votes.

Republican turnout was in the area of 30% with Democratic turnout slightly lower at about 27%.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN SUES, AMONG OTHERS, WARREN COUNTY

The Trump campaign in July filed suit against nearly every governmental entity that handles elections in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

That included the Warren County Board of Elections.

Congressman Glenn Thompson joined Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., as did a couple other members of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation and two potential poll watchers.

The named defendants include Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania’s secretary of state and each of the 67 county election boards.

The heart of the allegations made in a federal district court filing center around Pennsylvania’s new mail-in voting option.

The complaint was filed on June 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and calls mail-in voting “the single greatest threat to free and fair elections” and could lead to “chaon” for the upcoming General Election.

The case was ultimately stayed while a similar Democrat-led state case worked through the state court system.

QUESTIONABLE MAIL-IN APPLICATIONS APPROVED

The Pennsylvania Department of State will be approving the processing of mail-in ballot applications provided to voters by third parties but technically incomplete.

The county has received hundreds of mail-in ballot applications that have a printed name and address and the voter filled out the rest of the form.

However, the portion where a person who assisted with the completion of the form should be signed was left blank, leaving the application in limbo.

Rivett said that there were some duplicates where people had already applied back in the spring for the primary and would have had their general election ballot sent to them automatically.

Commissioner Tricia Durbin said the ability to find duplicates is a “security feature” and a “nice internal control to manage that.”

Extension for mail-in ballot receipt granted by state high court

A September ruling from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court pushed back the date that counties must accept mail-in ballots in the upcoming election and required that any not in the secrecy envelope be “disqualified.”

The court took the case under special jurisdiction, saying the state is “faced with a national election scheduled to occur on November 3, 2020 and substantial legal issues that required the highest court of Pennsylvania’s analysis and response to ensure a free and fair election.”

The case was brought by state Democrats in response to a federal campaign brought by the Trump campaign.

All mail-in and absentee ballots postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day and received by the county boards of elections by Nov. 6 — a three day extension — will be counted.

They found that the current deadlines “cannot be met by the USPS’s current delivery standards,” resulting in a system that will “unquestionably fail under the strain of COVID-19 and the 2020 Presidential Election.”

The court then ordered a “three day extension of the absentee and mail-in ballot received-by deadline to allow for the tabulation of ballots…. We observe that this extension provides more time for the delivery of ballots while also not requiring alteration of the subsequent canvassing and reporting dates necessary for the Secretary’s final reporting of the election results.”

SMOOTH ELECTION DAY REPORTED HERE

It’s no secret that America is deeply divided on red and blue lines as the 2020 General Election unfolded.

Tensions and anxiety levels were — and are — high.

But reports from all corners of Warren County indicated minimal wait times and a smooth process for voters here in Warren County.

“I voted in Lander at 7:30 this morning,” Sierra Berkhous told the Times Observer. “Probably about 10 people in line or voting before me. Went super quick , about 15 minutes. The workers there had a very efficient system going and were very nice. It was worth the small wait.”

Jess Confer said voting in Deerfield was “quick and easy…. My grandfather and I were the only two there at 9:30.”

The longest wait times reported — about an hour — were reported at Holy Redeemer on Warren’s east side and at Conewango #1 at the North Warren Presbyterian Church.

Preliminary results the next day showed that the county supported President Donald Trump at a higher total — and slightly higher percentage — than four years ago.

Unofficial returns provided by the Department of State show Trump carrying the county 14,020 to 5,987, or 68.91 to 29.43 percent.

In 2016, Trump took the county with 67.7 percent over Hillary Clinton with a total of 12,477.

Unofficials returns from the Warren County Elections Department indicate that turnout on Tuesday was 65 just over 65 percent.

However, a few days later, the race was called for Biden, who is set to be sworn in as the nation’s 46th president later this month.