Allegheny County votes to consolidate primary polling locations

More than 85% of polling places in Allegheny County could be closed for the June 2 primary election, as the county Board of Elections voted Thursday to drastically consolidate in-person voting locations.

Legislation signed by Gov. Tom Wolf in March to move the primary, originally scheduled to be held Tuesday, allows counties to consolidate up to 60% of polling places. Allegheny County, however, has about 1,300 polling places — a number it wants to reduce to fewer than 200.

The resolution must be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of State.

The consolidation is intended to reduce the number of poll workers needed for the primary election.

The county typically has five or six poll workers at each polling place, for a total of about 6,500 workers countywide.

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a number of poll workers, who are volunteers, to call off over fears they will be exposed to the virus while working.

“We just want to make this as convenient as we can for everybody, and as safe for everybody, knowing the limitations we have on trying to get that many workers out there,” said County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, a member of the Board of Elections.

There will be at least 138 polling places — one in each of the county’s 129 municipalities, plus one in each Pittsburgh City Council district.

The resolution allows the county elections division to work with each municipality to identify suitable polling locations and to determine whether some larger municipalities might require multiple locations.

Municipal borough buildings, schools and community centers will all be considered, Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald and at-large County Council Representative Sam DeMarco III, R-North Fayette, voted in favor of the resolution.

At-large County Council Representative Bethany Hallam, D-Ross, voted against it, citing concerns the resolution does not guarantee all municipalities will be treated equally.

She said she would have preferred to amend the resolution to include language that specifies how decisions about reducing the number of polling places will be made, such as guaranteeing a certain number of polling places based on population.

There were about 950,000 registered voters in Allegheny County during the 2019 primary election. Of that total, about 550,000 were registered Democrats and about 260,000 were Republicans, according to county elections data.

About 157,000 votes were cast during the 2019 primary.

The county elections division has placed orders for personal protective equipment (PPE) for poll workers at the polls and in warehouses where paper ballots will be stored, said Jerry Tyskiewicz, director of the county department of administrative services.

That includes 6,700 pairs of gloves and masks, at least two hand sanitizer pumps per polling place, alcohol wipes and extra pens, as well as stylus pens to be used for touch-screen voting machines available for people unable to mark a paper ballot.

The county is also expected to receive additional PPE from the state.

“The decisions that (the elections division) is making right now are all geared at maximizing physical distance and safety for poll workers and voters alike,” said David Voye, elections division manager. “In addition to PPE and cleaning supplies, we will also be looking at additional distancing measures in locations where there may be large numbers of in-person voters and will continue to identify other steps that can be taken to provide further protections.”

The elections division will continue to emphasize that the safest way to participate in the primary election is by mail-in ballot, Voye said.

Allegheny County has started mailing applications to vote by mail to county residents.

So far, the county has received 90,000 applications. More than 30,000 applications have been processed, and of that number, 20,000 have been mailed.

The county is processing about 5,000 applications per day and is recruiting more staff to help process ballots.

Applications will also be made available to Allegheny County Jail inmates.