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Hello Pennsylvania!

I spent Election Day driving between polling locations, talking to clerks and voters, and bringing readers along for the ride. My editors and I stayed up past midnight to watch your ballots get counted. We do it for the love of the game but we can’t keep it up without your support. Chip in to help Votebeat raise $8,000 by Dec. 31. Donate any amount to become a member for the entire year, and get access to exclusive members-only events.

We’re coming to you live two days after Election Day. If you have been living under a tabulator, you might have missed it, but Pennsylvania has a new dynamic as of this week. Democrats now hold a legislative trifecta for the first time in more than thirty years. Governor Josh Shapiro carried state House candidates to an expanded majority, and helped flip enough state Senate seats to give Democrats 26 of 50 seats. These results are of course unofficial until certification.

This is probably going to mean lots of changes in a number of policy areas, for which I’ll refer you to our friends over at Spotlight PA for more coverage. But what does this mean for election reform? The push for any election law changes has basically been dead for years. Senate Republicans, who until Tuesday controlled the chamber, wouldn’t run any election law bill unless a constitutional amendment for expanded voter ID came with it. That dynamic no longer exists, so if they want, Democrats could pass many of the items on their wishlist, such as early voting and preregistration for 16-year-olds.

How much of a focus will election law be in the next session? What will Democrats want to do? What do stakeholders want to see? Stay tuned for more reporting as I keep watch on all of that .

Yesterday, Josh Shapiro and his Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate were celebrating their victory with rallies in Harrisburg. I asked the governor whether — now that he didn’t need to negotiate with Senate Republicans — he was still open to expanded voter ID requirements. I got the same answer many reporters who asked policy questions got: no comment, you’ll have to see when our policy agenda comes out what we are focusing on.

On how the election itself went, there’s not much to say. There were some machine set up issues, jams, and pollbook problems here and there, but they were isolated incidents in just one or two or three precincts. The state didn’t encounter any of the type of county-wide debacles that some, myself included, had unfortunately started to brace for ahead of elections. No misprinted pollbooks. No paper shortages. No misprogrammed machines. To be clear, this is good news!

“It's very boring. But with very good turnout.”

This week’s quote comes to us from Thad Hall, election director in Mercer County. That’s what he texted me on Election Day when I asked how things were going, and I think it encapsulates the day.

This is exactly what election officials want: High participation and no drama.

What else should I look into? You can always reach me by email at [email protected], on X @ByCarterWalker, or on Bluesky @bycarterwalker.bsky.social. Follow me on TikTok and Instagram for video explainers of Pennsylvania voting and elections news.

And if you know someone who might be interested in our reporting on elections and voting throughout Pennsylvania, forward them this newsletter — they can sign up for it here.

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