2020 Pennsylvania elections

A general election was held in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania on November 3, 2020. The office of the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the election process, including voting and vote counting.

To vote by mail, registered Pennsylvania voters had to request a ballot by October 27, 2020. As of early October some 2,568,084 voters requested mail ballots.

Election law changes for 2020

On October 29, 2019, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed Act 77 by a vote of 138–61. Later that day, the Pennsylvania State Senate passed Act 77 by a vote of 35–14. Governor Tom Wolf signed Act 77 into law two days later. The law enacted numerous changes to Pennsylvania's election code. Voters were allowed to request a mail-in ballot without providing a reason. A person could register to vote up to 15 days before an election and vote in that election, instead of the previous 30-day period. It said that mail-in ballots and absentee ballots would be valid if received by 8 p.m. on election day. The law eliminated the option of pushing one button to vote for all candidates of the same party, called straight-ticket voting; instead, a voter would need to select each candidate in order to vote the same way. The law said the state would cover up to 60 percent of the cost for counties to replace their voting machines with systems that had voter-verifiable paper. Governor Wolf described the changes as the "most significant improvement to Pennsylvania’s elections in more than 80 years".

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania State Senate both unanimously passed Act 12 on March 25, 2020, and Gov. Wolf signed it into law two days later. Act 12 delayed the primary election from April 28 to June 2. Act 12 also allowed counties to begin counting ballots at 7 a.m. on election day rather than being required to wait until 8 p.m. to do so.

Federal offices

President and Vice President of the United States

Pennsylvania had 20 electoral votes in the Electoral College. Incumbent Republican Donald Trump won the state in 2016 with 48.2% of the vote.

United States House of Representatives

Voters in Pennsylvania elected 18 candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the 18 congressional districts.

State offices

Executive offices

Three executive offices were up for election in Pennsylvania's general election: auditor general, attorney general, and treasurer.

Attorney general

Incumbent Democratic attorney general Josh Shapiro ran for re-election to a second term. He was first elected in 2016 with 51.4% of the vote.

Treasurer

Incumbent Democratic treasurer Joe Torsella ran for re-election to a second term. He was first elected in 2016 with 50.7% of the vote. He lost re-election to businesswoman and retired U.S. Army Colonel Stacy Garrity.

Auditor General

Incumbent Democratic Auditor General Eugene DePasquale was term-limited and ineligible to seek a third consecutive term. He was re-elected in 2016 with 50.0% of the vote. Dauphin County controller Timothy DeFoor won the election against former Philadelphia deputy mayor Nina Ahmad.

Pennsylvania Senate

25 of 50 seats (odd-numbered districts) in the Pennsylvania Senate were up for election in Pennsylvania's general election.

Special elections

A special election was also held on January 14 in the 48th senatorial district after the resignation of Republican senator Mike Folmer.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

All 203 seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives were up for election in the general election.

Special elections

Special elections were held for the 8th, 18th, 58th, and 190th districts prior to the general election.

Pennsylvania ballot measures

There were no statewide ballot measures up for election in this general election; however, there were local ballot measures in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

See also

• Postal voting in the United States, 2020
• Elections in Pennsylvania
• Electoral reform in Pennsylvania
• Bilingual elections requirement for Pennsylvania (per Voting Rights Act Amendments of 2006)
• Political party strength in Pennsylvania
• Politics of Pennsylvania

References

Further reading

• David Weigel; Lauren Tierney (September 22, 2020), "The 50 political states of America", Washingtonpost.com, archived from the original on October 11, 2020, Pennsylvania
• Michelle Ye Hee Lee (September 25, 2020), "Philadelphia election official warns 'naked ballots' may invalidate up to 100,000 votes", The Washington Post
• Robert Barnes (September 28, 2020), "Pennsylvania Republicans ask Supreme Court to stop voting accommodations", The Washington Post
• Amy Gardner (October 10, 2020), "Federal judge in Pennsylvania dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit on voting, calling fraud claims 'speculative'", Washingtonpost.com
• Karen Heller (October 16, 2020), "'I've been crying for days': How voting became the latest of 2020's many anxieties", The Washington Post
• Marc Fisher (October 18, 2020), "Amid fears of Election Day chaos, one county prepares for anxious days after the vote", The Washington Post

External links

• Electionreturns.pa.gov, Pennsylvania Department of State
• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Pennsylvania", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Pennsylvania: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Pennsylvania 2019 & 2020 Elections, OpenSecrets
• "Election Guides: Pennsylvania", Spreadthevote.org, archived from the original on October 4, 2020, retrieved October 7, 2020. (Guidance to help voters get to the polls; addresses transport, childcare, work, information challenges)
• 2019 Act 77, Pennsylvania General Assembly