Inside Philadelphia's preparations for Election Day

With more than 12 million ballots already cast across the country, Philadelphia's election officials are making final preparations for a vote that President Donald Trump has criticized in city after city for a decade, PBS NewsHour reports. More than 65,000 of those early ballots came from Philadelphia, where three elected commissioners oversee elections. Lisa Deeley and Omar Sabir are Democrats, and Seth Bluestein is a Republican. They describe their role as neutral, with Sabir likening it to umpiring.

Trump has accused the city of corruption since 2016 and, on Election Day 2024, alleged massive cheating, though city officials said no substantive fraud complaints had come in. He has also asserted, without evidence, that mail voting is full of fraud. Documented prosecutions in Philadelphia have been few, the largest involving about four dozen votes. Deeley and Bluestein say they have faced death threats and harassment.

Pennsylvania law bars officials from opening mail ballot envelopes until Election Day morning, so counting takes time. In 2020 the count of roughly 375,000 mail ballots lasted until the Saturday after the election. Officials now hope to finish by midday Wednesday.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →