Pennsylvania is a key state in the 2020 presidential election, close Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump after four days of vote counting. So it’s no surprise the Keystone State is once again front and center this election cycle, with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump invest time and resources there before election day.
In the past few weeks, presidential candidates have been regulars in Pennsylvania, often joining the campaign trail by celebrities and political friends. They have made some memorable bike stops – from Harris snapping a selfie Famous 4th Street Deli for Trump donning an apron during a campaign event at McDonald’s in Bucks County, which Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro calls “the swingiest of all swing counties in the swingiest of all swing states.” Trump too back to Butler for a rally at the same fairgrounds where he survived an assassination attempt in July.
CBS News’ Battleground Tracker shows the race is effectively tied in Pennsylvania weeks before Election Day. The state is part of the Democratic “blue wall” along with Michigan and Wisconsin, which is considered crucial to the party’s path to the White House.
Here’s what you need to know before Election Day:
Pennsylvania Election Day fast facts
- Open poll: 7 a.m. ET
- Poll closed: 8 p.m. ET
- Ballots are in deadline: 8pm ET on Tuesday, November 5, 2024
- Where to choose: See your polling place here
- Election Vote: 19
- Number of voters: 76% of registered voters voted in 2020, government data shows
Pennsylvania’s vote counting rules
Each country has its own rules when it comes to it count the votes. In Pennsylvania, state law requires county election workers to wait until the polls open on Election Day (7 a.m. ET) to begin the process — removing ballots from envelopes — and counting the ballots.
Pennsylvania counties also cannot begin recording or releasing ballot results until after polls close at 8 pm ET. That means there will be a lag when announcing the final tallies and, subsequently, depicting the state winners. How long the delay was, however, is unclear.
Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes
Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votesbecome an important prize in the presidential race. The state had 20 electoral votes in the 2020 race but lost one in congressional redistricting after the 2020 Census.
When will we know who won Pennsylvania?
In 2020, Mr. Biden named the winner depicted from Pennsylvania last morning on November 7 – the fourth day of counting votes – after taking an insurmountable lead in the country. Winning 20 electoral votes in the state helped him reach the 270 needed to win the presidency.
But it’s hard to draw conclusions from 2020 when more voters are choosing to vote by mail for the first time because of the spread of COVID-19. It was the first year Pennsylvania allowed no-reason mail-in voting, leading to a record 2.6 million mail-in ballots. In 2020, 38% of Pennsylvanians voted early or by mail, compared to 4% in 2016, according to CBS News records.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court also ruled in 2020 that ballots cannot be rejected because they are inappropriate.
Kathy Boockvar, the former Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, told CBS News that 2024 will look different because election officials have trained for four more years, bought new equipment and have a better idea of ​​how many staff they need.
“No one knows on election night who won or lost. Do we hope to count the ballots safely, accurately, and then after that as quickly as humanly possible,” Boockvar said.
In 2020, about 54% of total votes were reported by 12 a.m. ET after Election Day, according to the Associated Press. “Most ballots” are counted Thursday night through Friday morning in 2020, according to Boockvar.
Boockvar estimates that this year, due to all the lessons learned from 2020 and the improvements made to the counting system, the majority of ballots will be counted by the end of Wednesday instead of Thursday, which could help speed up the process of projecting the winner.
However, if the race is close, it may delay. Pennsylvania has an automatic recount if the margin in any statewide race is 0.5% of votes or less. The state also allows missing candidates to submit a request for a machine recount if they pay. A refund may be available depending on the findings.
Do Latino voters in Pennsylvania decide the election?
To secure a Pennsylvania victory, Harris and Trump may need to win over Latino voters. There are nearly 580,000 eligible Latino voters in Pennsylvania, according to the latest data from the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute. Pennsylvania’s eligible Latino voter turnout has doubled since 2000, the data show.
About half of the Latino population lives in the middle of the country’s so-called “222 Corridor” – a small town that includes Reading, Allentown, Lancaster and Bethlehem, where the presidential candidates and their friends often visit.
A recent poll from the Hispanic Federation and the Latino Victory Foundation found that 66% of Latino respondents said they would vote this year in Pennsylvania.
Who won Pennsylvania in the last presidential election?
Pennsylvania has chosen a presidential winner since 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president. Here’s a look at who has claimed the country over the years:
- 2020: Democrat Joe Biden beat Donald Trump
- 2016: Republican Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton
- 2012: Democrat Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney
- 2008: Democrat Barack Obama beat John McCain
- 2004: Democrats John Kerry beat George W. Bush
- 2000: Democrat Al Gore beat George W. Bush
