Voter Turnout Very High In Chesco, Poll Workers See More Youth

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — As Election Day winds down, voter turnout has been very high with more young voters showing up than in 2016, according to a county Democrat.

Voting has gone smoothly overall in Chester County, with some reporting long waits to vote, others posting they were "in and out" of their polling place.

Democratic Party of Chester County Chair Dick Bingham said early Tuesday evening that all the indicators show a very high voter turnout for the 2020 General Election. "There is lots of enthusiasm," he said, as voting continued into Tuesday evening.

With a few hours left until polls closed, Bingham said voting in Chester County was proceeding with minimal issues. He told Patch "nothing substantive" occurred throughout the day. He said there were minor problems; one polling place ran low on ballots at one point, another had a problem with a voting machine. These matters were quickly resolved, he said.

In Phoenixville, Bobbie Luckenbill said voting at "the high school was very organized and everyone was nice regardless of who you were voting for. Great job to all!" People reported "good experiences" voting around the county.

A West Chester voter said, "I went home this morning at 7 a.m. from Trinity Church because they were having an issue with the scanner and the line was already long. Went back at 10 a.m. and had no problem." Another said everything was fine voting at the West Bradford Fire Station. Many readers responded to Patch questions about voting by saying "Thank you" to poll workers.

A poll worker reported that young people seemed to be turning out in nu mbers much higher than were seen in 2016, Bingham said. "That's anecdotal, but it's a observation," he said.

Polling places were changed in many places to allow space for distancing in a pandemic, but voters appeared to have found their places, as lines stretched out of buildings on a brisk fall day.

On Oct. 6, Chester County had 371,661 registered voters, according to county election officials. But by Election Day, the number had risen to 380,388.

Chester County's Elections Office created 13 drop-off locations where mail-in ballots could be dropped starting Oct. 13. Chester County had a jump on most others in the region in sending out the ballots early. By early October, 139,038 mail-in ballots had been requested.

"All is going well right now. When voting is finished, we will move on to counting," said Bingham.

The Republican Party of Chester County did not respond with comment for this story.