Philadelphia Preps for Election Day Amid Federal Pressure

More than 12 million votes had already been cast nationwide, including more than 65,000 in Philadelphia, when workers in a Northeast Philadelphia warehouse packed poll books, rule books, posters and pens for the city's 1,700 precincts. A PBS report produced with the Pulitzer Center documented the operation, offering a look at how Pennsylvania's largest city runs an election under unusual political and legal strain.

The Warehouse Operation

Lisa Deeley, a Philadelphia City Commissioner, calls the packages "election activity boxes." Omar Sabir, chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, summed up his readiness in two words: "Born ready." Three elected commissioners run the city's elections: two Democrats and a Republican. Deeley, a Democrat, described the job as "more as nonpartisan than bipartisan," saying commissioners are "to be umpires, to call balls and strikes."

Seth Bluestein, the Republican commissioner, put it plainly. "Running elections in Philadelphia doesn't require democratic values or Republican values. It requires American values."

Hundreds of voting machines waited in lines for delivery to polling places. They have no Internet connection. After polls close, officials bring results back to the warehouse and transfer the counts by secure compact discs to another computer for public release. Audits follow. Preparation for the next election starts almost immediately.

Counting Rules and the 2020 Lesson

Pennsylvania law bars officials from starting the pre-canvass before Election Day morning, when polls open at 7:00 a.m. They can't review outer envelopes, open them or prepare ballots for counting before then. Each mail ballot sits inside two sealed envelopes. In 2020, processing about 375,000 mail ballots in Philadelphia required workers to handle more than a million pieces of paper, and counting continued until the Saturday after Election Day.

This year, officials will keep ballots in a locked cage until processing begins on Election Day morning. They hope to finish counting by midday Wednesday. Deeley said speed will never come at accuracy's expense. "We will never sacrifice accuracy for speed, and we never have. And since 2020, we have only gotten better."

Washington's Shadow

President Donald Trump has singled out Philadelphia in every campaign since 2016. Two days after the 2020 election, as the city's mail-ballot count cut into his Pennsylvania lead, he called Detroit and Philadelphia "two of the most corrupt political places anywhere in our country." On Election Day 2024, he posted that there was "massive cheating" in the city, though city officials said no substantive fraud complaints existed.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has said the federal government should get involved, claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, and pushed for federal legislation to overhaul elections. "Cheating on mail-in voting is legendary," he said. "It's horrible what's gone on."

Trump signed an executive order in March that would have restricted whom the Postal Service could deliver mail ballots to. The Supreme Court blocked the order from taking effect for the midterms. It also directed the attorney general to investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who issue ballots to ineligible people.

The commissioners say they've lived with the consequences of the rhetoric. Bluestein said he and Deeley received death threats and harassment in 2020. During the pandemic, Deeley said, she had to leave her home and live in a hotel while protesters gathered on both sides at the Convention Center.

What the Record Shows

Philadelphia has had a handful of prosecuted fraud cases; the largest involved about four dozen votes. The report said no widespread documented fraud had occurred in a presidential general election. "We have the receipts to show that there's not massive cheating in Philadelphia elections, quite literally," Bluestein said.

Bluestein said Pennsylvania law keeps officers and federal agents 100 feet from polling places, and he doesn't foresee that happening in Philadelphia. The city worked with its law department on a plan to respond to problems, including possible federal involvement. "I'm not concerned," he said of the prosecution threat. "I haven't given it one second of thought. I don't think it's a realistic threat." Deeley was less breezy. She said she now has to consider whether the president might press to have her charged for doing her job, though "I can't worry about what he says he's going to do to me."

The administration has sent mixed messages about whether federal agents will appear at polling places on Election Day.

The Staffing Gap

The people-power problem is real. The city has 7,200 poll worker sign-ups, short of its 8,000 goal. Election Day starts at 6:00 a.m. and can run past 9:00 p.m. Shanna Fields, who oversees poll worker training for the Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, said the city needs "willing participants who really will care about democracy and care about the work that we do." Some poll workers have her personal cell number. "We're like 911 for them," she said.

Deeley urged skeptics to sign up and see the process firsthand. Bluestein said he works to build confidence among local Philadelphia Republicans, while acknowledging how difficult that is when the leader of their party says otherwise.

Why This Matters:

Pennsylvania is a battleground, and Philadelphia is its biggest vote engine. Two things stand out. First, the rules do real work: a legal bar on early pre-canvassing, locked storage, offline machines, post-election audits and a bipartisan board of commissioners. Those safeguards make the case for trusting the count, and they don't depend on anyone's say-so. Second, friction between Washington and local officials carries costs. Commissioners are weighing legal exposure and security, and the city remains short of poll workers. Voters on both sides have a stake in clear rules, evidence-based claims and a count that's prompt and accurate. A transparent system will serve everyone better than one that asks people to trust it on faith.