EASTON, Pa. — Northampton County officials on Wednesday celebrated an election without any major issues — but with one eye already on November’s general election, which is sure to be a heavier lift.
“Everything went smoothly, and that credit, of course, goes to all of our poll workers, the volunteers during the pre-canvass yesterday, and certainly my staff,” county Elections Registrar Chris Commini said.
“But my message is November is a completely different animal.”Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
County Executive Lamont McClure said Wednesday that, “Our elections workers — our folks in the Elections Division, judges, poll workers, our volunteers — they are all entitled to take a victory lap today.
“But my message is November is a completely different animal.”
Election workers and observers were on high alert after a programming error in the county’s ExpressVote XL voting machines created confusion in last year’s general election.
A problem with the same machines also snarled a judicial race in 2019.
All votes were counted and recorded correctly in both cases, officials said, as confirmed by post-election audits.
No such issues arose Tuesday, when a combination of careful preparation, low turnout, hard work and perhaps good luck combined for an election “as smooth as butter,” McClure said.
'Yesterday is over'
Inside the Northampton County Courthouse, where votes were being counted Tuesday, elections workers opening mail ballots appeared relaxed, at times with little to do.
The vast majority of mail ballots were scanned by 1 p.m., Commini said, and all of the county’s election results were posted online unusually early.
Barring some miracle, such speed will not happen in November, when several times more voters cast ballots.
Just shy of 50,000 Northampton County residents in all voted Tuesday, compared with more than 170,000 in the 2020 presidential election.
"November is not going to be perfect. There's going to be way too many people involved for it to be perfect, but what it will be is legal, fair and accurate."Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
“We want people to know that in November, things will be much more difficult,” McClure said.
“November is not going to be perfect. There's going to be way too many people involved for it to be perfect, but what it will be is legal, fair and accurate.”
Part of ensuring the vote goes smoothly is continuing to apply pressure to voting machine manufacturer ES&S, McCLure said.
“Northampton County had a successful election on Tuesday with the voting system performing as expected with accurate results,” an ES&S spokesperson wrote in an email Wednesday.
“The county did a great job preparing for the election with enhanced logic and accuracy testing and an excellent poll worker training program.”
Officials said that while Tuesday’s success validates the revised procedures implemented after last year’s machine error, they will continue to evaluate the way elections are run to look for ways to make improvements.
“Yesterday, while it was great,” Commini said, “yesterday is over and now we have to prep for November.”
