Primary voter turnout expectations low across Pittsburgh region

Voters at Harold Zion Lutheran Church in Hempfield will receive one of four different ballots on Tuesday as Westmoreland election officials navigate the first Election Day that features a splitting of Hempfield’s Middletown precinct into two Congressional districts.

Hempfield Middletown, with its 668 registered voters, was split in half as part of the state’s redistricting effort that concluded earlier this year. Election workers will hand out different Democratic and Republican primary ballots at the church.

Which ballot voters receive will depend on where they live in the precinct.

Officials said the dividing line that separates the re-formed 12th Congressional District that is based in Pittsburgh and eastern Allegheny County and cuts North Huntingdon, Murrysville and parts of Hempfield from the 14th District that includes the rest of Westmoreland County, along with Washington, Fayette and Greene counties, runs along Silvis Farm Road and state Route 136.

“It’s the only split district in the county,” McCloskey said.

McCloskey said poll workers on Election Day will be responsible for ensuring voters receive the correct ballots.

That split is the only major change Westmoreland County voters will see during Tuesday’s primary where Republicans and Democrats will nominate candidates for governor, U.S Senator, congressional seats and for seats in the state House and Senate.

Local political party committee posts also appear on the spring ballots.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

A full roster of more than 1,400 judges of elections and poll workers will staff Westmoreland County’s 307 voting precincts on Tuesday.

County commissioners increased the pay for poll workers last year, a move election officials said made filling Election Day jobs much easier this year. Under the revised pay scale, judges of elections saw their pay increased from $130 to $235, a figure that includes a base wage and an additional $35 stipend to take results to the courthouse after polls close. Workers who staff the poll books and manage the election machines now earn $175 for the day, an 84% increase from the previous pay of $95.

“I think it’s been relatively smooth,” said Scott Ross, the director of the county’s computer information system’s department that oversees county elections. “I think we’re getting better at it.”

Westmoreland County mailed out more than 25,000 mail-in ballots to voters this spring. As of last week, more than 13,000 have been returned. Mail-in ballots must arrive at the courthouse by 8 p.m. on Tuesday to be counted. A drop box at the rear, Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to the courthouse will remain open to accept mail-in ballots through 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Westmoreland County will have a staff of about 85 employees working on Election Day at the courthouse, including 16 call-takers to assist voters and another 30 workers assigned to open and count mail-in ballots. The counting of mail-in ballots will begin when polls open on Tuesday but results won’t be released until voting is concluded at 8 p.m., McCloskey said.

Westmoreland officials said they expect voter turnout to reach about 32% this spring.

In Allegheny County about 30% of registered Democrats and 35% of Republicans are expected to cast ballots in the primary, according to spokeswoman Amie Downs.

Allegheny County will operate 1,323 voting precincts on Tuesday.

Through May 11, Allegheny County mailed out more than 123,400 ballots to voters and nearly 56,000 of those were returned.

Adam Price, the precinct and poll worker coordinator for the Butler County Bureau of Elections, said they are expecting an overall turnout of about 30% for Tuesday’s primary.

“Turnout should be a little higher for an election such as this,” he said, noting that while the statewide races for governor and the U.S. Senate will likely draw more voters to the polls than last year’s municipal election, it won’t be as high as when voters are asked to select candidates for president.

The election bureau, which is responsible for tallying votes from 89 precincts in the county, sent out about 12,000 mail-in ballots, with about 4,000 being returned as of Friday afternoon.

Price said voters who have not yet returned their mail-in ballots are being advised to hand deliver them to the courthouse in downtown Butler.

“Ballots that come in by mail after the polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday won’t be counted,” he said. “So we’ve been advising people calling us that if it hasn’t been placed in the mail before Friday, it would be best if they brought them to us.”