More Than 80 Percent Of PA Precincts Have No Primary Candidates For Vital Election Official Position
While election officials are appointed in other states, Pennsylvania voters have more power to control who handles elections at the local level, if only they engage in the process.
Pennsylvania is the only state that elects precinct officials who manage elections at the most local level: the polling place. The primary election is coming May 20, when precinct officials will be on the ballot statewide, but there is a huge shortage of candidates.
Pennsylvania has more than 9,000 local precincts and each needs a judge of election, but so far, just 1,729 candidates have filed to run for that position, according to county-by-county research by Pennsylvania election watchdog groups Citizens Alliance and PA Fair Elections. That means just 19 percent of the positions will be picked by voters, leaving 81 percent of the seats to be filled by appointment.
County commissioners will appoint someone to fill each empty spot, then the elected or appointed election worker will hold that position for four years, managing the vital 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election. In Pennsylvania, county commissioners also serve as members of the board of elections.
The judge of election is the highest official at the polling place. This person is responsible for opening and closing the polling location, resolving challenges, and posting results.
Judge of elections is one of three precinct election official positions that can be elected by voters. The Pennsylvania Election Code calls for voters to name: the judge of election, majority election inspector, and minority election inspector. Other positions, such as the precinct election clerk and the machine inspector, are appointed.
The majority and minority inspectors are not related to party affiliation. The top vote getter is designated as the majority and the second-place candidate gets the minority position. It means everyone working at your polling place could be of one party affiliation.
Working together, the inspectors check in voters and confirm they are eligible to vote. The minority inspectors have the extra duty of saving the precinct’s results for two years after an election.
In Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County, there are 1,328 precincts, but there are just 175 people running for judge of election in the county, leaving the left-leaning county commissioners to appoint 1,153 judges of elections, a scenario that could create highly partisan polling places.
The city of Philadelphia has 1,709 precincts, 716 people running for judge of election, and of those, just 46 are Republicans. The only way to change that is to get more Republicans on the November ballot.
President Donald Trump is paving the way for changes in the election process, such as returning to paper ballots, that will be felt at the precinct level. These local election officials, elected or appointed, will manage those changes.
It is too late to appear on the May primary ballot, but there is a grassroots write-in effort by the groups that did this research. They would like to see the seats filled these with people who care about the election integrity.
To win a primary race and be placed on the November ballot, write-in candidates must get the most votes, having a minimum of 10 votes from people who live in the precinct. If they prevail, they will likely be unchallenged in the general election. Candidates can simply tell their friends they are running a write-in campaign and they can be at a polling location and inform voters of their name, as long as they are standing far enough from the door.
Candidates don’t have to know how to do the job; PA Fair Elections trains poll workers.
The time commitment to hold one of the three local, elected positions is just two election days a year plus some training to get started.
Citizens Alliance and PA Fair Elections are sharing the data on the dearth of candidates in the hope that it will motivate more write-in campaigns, but ultimately, it is up to individuals to act.
Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
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