The Pennsylvania Department of State’s scheduling “system maintenance” on its voter registration website for Oct. 5th, just as Donald Trump’s Butler County rally is occurring, has caused concern, and even accusations of election rigging. This outage’s timing, during a pivotal moment in the event, raised some alarms, including from grassroots activists like Scott Presler, who highlighted that there is overlap on platform X.
The scandal reminds me of the voter fraud allegations made in Pennsylvania in 2020 and 2022 when problems with voter machines and alleged administrative failures were widely documented. Voting machines began to report faulty and even flipping mechanisms, and conflicts and lawsuits overturned the results in 2020. Even more concerning in some counties, lengthy delays in the count of mail-in ballots caused by technological and human errors raised doubts about the integrity of the system.
In 2022’s midterms, more problems occurred. In several counties, there were glitches and machines failed, leaving voters in confusion and anger. These issues, critics accused, were particularly bad in Republican-polling areas and prompted accusations of more discrimination and distorting. While election officials and state government pushed to convince the public that such problems were rectified and did not impact the outcome, the suspicion of Pennsylvania’s electoral system continues.
After Donald Trump’s rally in Butler County just weeks away from the upcoming election, the issue of voter fraud, voter machine fraud, and election transparency has returned to the news. As a swing state, Pennsylvania may determine the election in the long run, so every effort around voter identification, voting machines and election process might become a lightning rod.
The scheduled shutdown of the voter registration site, along with the fact that Pennsylvania has never had easily accessible and reliable elections is questionable. So how will the state address these anxieties, and how are you going to make sure voters aren’t excluded? Preoccupations with election interference, both from outside and within, a technical issue or two, are likely to remain top topics heading into November.
With the election season still in Pennsylvania’s claws, the spotlight will fall on the administration of the state to make sure the election was honest and fair. The rally and voter registration maintenance are scheduled, but will the state be ready to handle the election smoothly?
