Christopher Commini knows all eyes will be on Northampton County this November.
The county is widely seen as an election bellwether in one of the most important swing states in the presidential election. And, it’s coming a year after Northampton drew national attention for errors in its voting machines caused by human error that led to confusion at the polls and finger pointing among county officials.
It led to the resignation of the county’s administration director, Charles Dertinger, who oversaw elections, and calls for change from at least three state lawmakers who represent the Lehigh Valley.
“This is probably the most important and consequential election of our lifetime,” said Commini, who became the county’s head of elections in 2022. “I will not speculate on the significance of the commonwealth. We will be prepared, and we will be ready.”
With less than six weeks to go before Election Day, elections officials in both Northampton and Lehigh counties say they’re prepared, and both expect ballot counting to be completed that night or the next day.
Commini provided Northampton County Council with updates on the county’s voting procedures, during a Sept. 18 meeting of the council’s Election Integrity Committee. The committee was created after last fall’s voting problems.
He said the county has a full complement of staff and volunteers to handle the tabulating, and it also has put backup measures in place to ensure no one will be turned away from voting, which was one of the major responses to the errors last fall.
Commini also said the county has or intends to strengthen its communication with workers and voters.
“My big takeaways,” council President Lori Vargo Heffner said, “is you have done everything you can to be ready; that there is a communication system in place; people in this county have several opportunities to vote in whichever way they see fit; and it should be counted. And if you are in line by 8 o’clock [election night ], stay in line.”
“If you are there by 8:01, there will be somebody saying, ‘You are there too late,’ ” Commini said.
Commini also said residents who opt to vote by mail will receive ballots around “very early October.” That should be earlier than in the spring, when multiple legal challenges regarding the primary ballot left election officials with two weeks to get out those ballots.
“We have a month,” he said, also telling council he anticipates voting results will be posted election night.
Like Northampton, Lehigh County has also been busy readying for the Nov. 5 election, training poll workers, testing voting machines, assessing polling place locations and dealing with security measures.
While Northampton has more than enough poll workers, Lehigh was still recruiting them, said Timothy Benyo, the county’s chief clerk of registrations and elections. Residents can apply at the county website, he said.
Benyo, who has been elections director since 2010, declined to explain his security steps or his concerns for this election and how they compare with those in the 2020 election, which was the last time voters chose a president. But he said Lehigh County is “in a much better place” than four years ago, though there are different concerns.
“[For] every election, the goal is to have it run flawless[ly],” Benyo said. “There’s no difference between this one and any other one. Still, the goal is to have a perfect election.”
One key difference from 2020 is foregoing the social distancing that the pandemic required. That allows counties to bring in additional people to count votes, as it has done in more recent elections, Benyo said.
Another difference in the four years, the chief clerk said, is improved processing of ballots. The 2020 election was the first with no-excuse mail-in ballots after Pennsylvania changed its election law in a bipartisan vote in 2019.
“It took us until Friday to count 100,000 mail ballots,” he said. “As of right now, those numbers will be higher in 2020 than they are this year, but we’re also in a better place with processes and equipment. We’re also obligated to count for 24/7 until we finish, so I’m expecting sometime Wednesday [that] we will be finished with all the mail ballots.”
‘Complete faith’
People who watch voting results or have questioned recent election results said they are confident the top officials are following through on preparation for Nov. 5.
Lori McFarland, chair of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee, said she had “complete faith” in Lehigh County’s voting process and that there’s no potential for external interference.
“We had meetings with the election office, and they went through procedurally how they share information between counties,” she said. “They did a demonstration on the voting machines, which are not hooked up to the internet. They are merely hooked up into electricity, and it actually serves almost as a copier.”
McFarland said she was more concerned with being able to have a “peaceful election process.”
“The only thing that I hope for is for both sides … that we remain peaceful, and we allow each other to vote without intimidation, without heckling, without threats and without any kind of problems,” she said.
Scott Hough, vice chair of the Northampton County Election Commission, an appointed, volunteer board separate from council, agreed it appears county officials are committed to thorough preparation ahead of the election.
“My biggest concern is inaccurate information and voter confusion, and I want the voters of Northampton County to know that if they feel something is not right or see something that they have a question about, they should contact the Department of Elections and get their concern addressed,” Hough said.
Asked what inaccurate information is being disseminated, Commini noted a recent text message several voters received stating there was an issue with their voter registration status.
The Pennsylvania Department of State has said the text is a scam, and voters should be cautious of such texts or emails that attempt to lure voters.
More information
For questions or concerns, call your county’s elections office. In Northampton County, the number is 610-829-6260; Lehigh County is 610-782-3194.
Addressing council members’ concerns about what voters can do if they have concerns Nov. 5, Election Day, Commini said Northampton County will have at least 15 people to answer calls at the election office.
“We basically set up a call center,” he said.
For voters seeking accurate information on their registration status, the state maintains a lookup tool at vote.pa.gov/status. It also maintains a tracker for mail ballot applications and status, at vote.pa.gov/mailballotstatus.
Polling place changes
Lehigh County has shifted two polling place locations, with a third change possible, since the primary election. Northampton County has one change.
For the Bethlehem 13th Ward District 1 precinct, the polling place location changed from the Blessed Trinity Lutheran Church at Rosemont to the CrossPoint Wesleyan Church. For the Bethlehem 13th Ward District 5 precinct, that location changed from the Bethany United Church of Christ at Rosemont to James Buchanan Elementary School.
Lower Macungie Township District 1 is potentially moving from the Wescosville Fire Company Social Hall to the Lower Macungie Library. Benyo said there’s no contract yet for this move, but the county will notify residents through mail of changing polling place locations.
In Northampton County, the Plainfield Township-Delabole precinct will move from Benders Mennonite Church to Plainfield Township Volunteer Fire Company, 6480 Sullivan Trail. Commini said the Delabole precinct had been placed with another precinct at Benders Mennonite for the April primary.
“Sharing them in a presidential election isn’t going to work,” he said of the reason for the move to the fire company’s banquet hall.
Elections workers can expect heavy turnout; some 92% of 520,138 eligible residents in both counties were registered as of Sept. 16, according to state data.
The final day to register for the election is Oct. 21. The deadline to apply for a mail ballot is Oct. 29, but residents must be registered to vote.
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at [email protected]. Morning Call reporter Graysen Golter can be reached at [email protected].
