Beaver Countians have taken to the polls in what may be the largest voter turnout in modern U.S. history. We’re in touch with our network of sources in the Republican and Democratic parties as well as county government, and will keep you updated throughout the day.
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5:30 p.m.
– Local police were dispatched at 4:10 p.m. by the county 911 Center for a “fight” at Highland Elementary School, which serves as the Harmony Twp precinct 1 polling location. Video obtained by BeaverCountian.com shows Representative Robert Matzie (D-16) engaged in a heated verbal argument about bipartisanship with a voter dressed in all red.
Police say the voter was gone by the time they arrived, the disruption had not turned physical, and no citations were issued. County officials say the Matzie incident did not interfere with voters’ ability to cast ballots at the location.
Matzie is in a heated race against challenger Michael Perich, in what may be the most closely watched local election in the county.
– The polls remain otherwise peaceful and are all still operating smoothly. The county’s emergency services unit (aka SWAT team) that’s on standby at the courthouse has resorted to entertaining itself by flying drones around the inside of the building — or rather — is utilizing its time by engaging in training scenarios with their aerial surveillance assets.
– County government is investigating after getting complaints about a Center Twp. man named Essex Law who was seen on social media claiming he was able to vote multiple times. Officials are highly skeptical of his assertions, but Beaver County Elections Director Colin Sisk has referred the matter to county detectives.
2:30 p.m.
– The mail-in ballot counting is going even more efficiently than officials had anticipated.
BeaverCountian.com just finished with a guided tour of the outskirts of a secured hallway where sworn county workers are opening, flattening, and counting ballots. The area is guarded by sheriff’s deputies, and county employees with access to the location have all taken an oath administered by county judges. There are also official representatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties present to act as watchers to ensure election integrity.
The county has set up a network of cameras for the media to monitor the ballot counting remotely from a conference room in the courthouse — as of the time of this report BeaverCountian.com is the only organization present utilizing it.
“We should have all of the mail-in ballots counted by around 5 p.m.,” predicted Commissioner Dan Camp. “We had a shift of 28 workers and they’ll be followed up by another shift of about 20. We’re allowed by law to start publishing results at 8 p.m., and the first results we’ll have will be those mail-in ballots.”
Commissioners Dan Camp and Jack Manning, both Republicans, have been seen in the building along with Commissioner Tony Amadio, the minority Democrat.
– According to the county 911 Center, voting has remained peaceful throughout the day with no major problems reported.
Law enforcement was dispatched to reports of a person riding a horse to the courthouse in downtown Beaver, but the individual was found to be a harmless equestrian.
BeaverCountian.com has learned that the county’s Emergency Services Unit (ESU), our local equivalent of a SWAT team, is stationed on stand-by in the courthouse ready to be dispatched to any polling location at a moment’s notice if needed
11:00 a.m.
– Beaver County Emergency Services Director Eric Brewer tells BeaverCountian.com that the 911 Center has been relatively quiet so far today.
“We had a brief power outage in the county that affected North Sewickley polling locations 1 and 2. Penn Power was on it quickly and had power restored within about 15 minutes,” Brewer said. “We had an ambulance call to Hopewell’s Fatima polling location for a person who fell, and that’s about it.”
Several law enforcement sources BeaverCountian.com spoke with said the polls have been busy throughout the county but peaceful.
Fun Fact: Under Pennsylvania law, police officers are not allowed within 100 feet of a polling place on election day unless they are called upon to keep the peace, serve a warrant, or are exercising their own personal right to vote. The law is designed to prevent officials from using law enforcement officers as a tool of voter intimidation. Constables, who are themselves elected by their communities, are among the few allowed to be in polling locations to ensure things are operating peacefully.
9:30 a.m.
– Beaver County Commissioners Chairman Dan Camp tells BeaverCountian.com that all of the county’s polling locations opened without any issues this morning.
“All of our voting machines came up without any problems, we didn’t have any issues getting any of our polling places open so people were able to start voting on time,” Camp said. “No problems anywhere so far.”
– On the mail-in ballot front, workers are busy opening and flattening ballots for the count. The day started with Common Pleas Judge James J. Ross swearing in all county employees who are involved in the process.
Counting is being done in the courthouse with representatives of both the Democratic and Republican parties watching every step of the process. Official poll watchers currently include attorney Terri Mitko for the Democrats and former district attorney David Lozier for the Republicans.
