A “good process” indeed
By Ben Bright November 21, 2020
The Observer-Reporter recently published an important story with the headline, “A Good Process.” In the article, both Democratic and Republican Party leaders from across our area praised the transparency and openness of our voting process. The story went on to show how officials from both parties welcomed observers to the vote canvassing room, answered their questions and thanked both the election department staff and volunteers for their hard work to make sure our voting process was fair and open. One local Republican leader describing the voting transparency said, “Everyone worked together. There were no issues.”
This story was important because it showed that both Democrat and Republican leaders have faith in our election process and more so were willing to publicly state that belief in a widely read newspaper article. We are now so unfortunately used to cable news stations with a variety of liberal slants and conservative biases reporting the news as it meets their agendas that we are missing fact-based news. But it is refreshing to see that in the old-fashioned newspaper, where you have to take your time and read the facts of a story, representatives from both parties are willing to stand up and support the validity of our election process and our neighbors as well that donate their time and efforts to make sure voting is fair and accurate. And this is not only happening locally – Democratic and Republican leaders from across the state have shown their willingness to stand up for the voting process and our right to vote.
And while the election process went very smoothly in Washington County, it was not perfect. The legislative expansion of the use of mail-in ballots also brought with it growing pains, and many voters (and election workers at the precincts) were confused about the changes. Many of these issues have been known since the June primary; however, the state Legislature, led by Republicans, refused to address any of these issues leading up to the Nov. 3 election. The refusal of the Legislature to address when counties could begin the “pre-canvass” process (the opening and scanning of mail-in ballots, which, by current law, cannot begin until 7 a.m. on Election Day) was the key reason that Pennsylvania saw such a dramatic shift in early results as the hours, and days, passed after the election. Moving forward it is the responsibility of our elected state leaders to address this issue, giving counties the ability to begin the pre-canvass process much earlier than is currently allowed. This will allow results to be known in a much more timely manner and help eliminate any claims of wrongdoings.
Accuracy and transparency are the groundwork of our voting process, and leaders from both parties supporting these two items are very important as we move forward with the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden. Here in Washington County, that accuracy has been verified where it showed President Donald Trump received more votes than Biden. In case you did not have a chance to review the results, Trump received 60.8% of the vote and Biden received 38.1% (as of this writing) in Washington County. And while this is an impressive vote for the president, the overall vote count in Washington County showed that the president underperformed this year as compared to his 2016 vote total in our area.
While Trump’s share of the vote increased from 60.03 to 60.8% in Washington, Biden increased Democratic presidential votes from 35.5% in 2016 to 38.1% in 2020. This trend of Democrat shifts was also seen in Butler County, which saw a 4% shift; Allegheny County, which had a 3.8% shift, and Westmoreland County, which shifted 2.6%. These are the four largest counties in the area, and they all closed the gap compared to the 2016 presidential results. Democratic shifts at the top of the ticket were seen across the state where comparatively more people voted for the Democratic candidate this year than they did in 2016 and saw Trump getting fewer votes this time, based on percentages, as compared to the 2016 election.
Donald Trump did increase his margins in many of the rural counties around the state, including in nearby Greene and Fayette counties. One place where Trump surprisingly improved on his 2016 numbers was Philadelphia, where, as of this writing, he actually improved in the county by almost 4 points. Philadelphia leans heavily Democrat and is the most populous county in the state. However, the small gains made by the collar counties around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, including here in Washington County, along with the flipping of Erie County, gave Joe Biden an extremely narrow win in Pennsylvania. As was expected, Pennsylvania was one of the key battleground states in the 2020 election, and this does not look to change anytime soon.
As we transition into the Biden presidency, it is important that both parties agree and are unified on the results of our local, state and national elections and the overall fairness of our election process. Washington County and other counties in our area have shown that parties can work together on validating elections, recognizing the winners of those elections, and supporting our election workers. Maybe Washington, D.C., can learn a little from Washington, PA.
Ben Bright is chairman of the Washington County Democratic Committee.
https://observer-reporter.com/opinion/op-eds/op-ed-a-good-process-indeed/article_963efb86-29bf-11eb-917b-d7f94b9c5498.html
