Pennsylvania

Partisan gridlock prevents fixes to Pennsylvania’s voting laws as presidential election looms

Published

2 years ago

June 15, 2024

Partisan gridlock prevents fixes to Pennsylvania’s voting laws as presidential election looms

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania is seeing lots of action targeting gaps in its vote-by-mail laws. The problem is that it’s in the courtroom and not the legislature.

That could make the most populous presidential swing state a hotbed of challenges and conspiracy theories if the November election is close, as expected.

The state also has a U.S. Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick that will help determine control of the chamber, increasing scrutiny on election offices if lawmakers can’t break a partisan stalemate and vote-counting is slowed by mailed ballots.

“Everyone just really feels how high the stakes are in Pennsylvania, being the largest swing state in the country,” said Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia-based good-government group.

Political gridlock in Pennsylvania over election laws dates to 2019, when a Republican-controlled legislature greatly expanded voting by mail in a compromise with then-Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Within months, then-President Donald Trump began, without evidence, demonizing voting by mail as rife with fraud, turning Republican voters against it and leading Republican lawmakers to backtrack on their support. He has taken contradictory stances this year — promoting mail voting while also supporting lawsuits against it.

The attacks on mail voting have created partisan battle lines around attempts to fix it in Pennsylvania.

Democrats also want to add early in-person voting, a convenience already adopted by most states, but it’s been a nonstarter for Republicans. Unlike some other states, Pennsylvanian voters can’t change their election laws because the state constitution doesn’t allow citizens to write their own ballot initiatives.

As a result, election-related lawsuits are sprouting in state, federal and county courts, nearly all targeting mail-in voting.

Across the country, Republicans are trying more than ever now to get their voters to vote by mail, a striking change for a party that amplified conspiracy theories about mail ballots in an attempt to explain away Trump’s 2020 loss.

Still, voting by mail remains largely the province of Democrats. In Pennsylvania, roughly three-fourths of mail-in ballots tend to be cast by Democrats.

Among the most important fixes to the state’s mail balloting law is one sought by counties. It would allow local election offices to begin processing mail-in ballots before Election Day, something nearly every other state with mail voting allows. That would help them produce results more quickly on election night.

Democrats also have sought to resolve a storm of litigation by clarifying the law so that mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date on the outer envelope, a signature or an inner secrecy envelope can still be counted. Thousands of those ballots get thrown out, although Democratic-leaning counties typically try to help voters fix those errors, so their ballots will count.

Without any fixes in state law, Democrats expect a repeat in November of the chaos around the 2020 election.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party chair, Sharif Street, said the state is capable of having a fair and well-run election under its existing laws. But, he said, Trump and his allies aren’t interested in that.

“He doesn’t want a smooth process in Pennsylvania or anywhere, because he believes that the chaos benefits him both in the run-up to the election, because he can rally people around saying that ‘There is going to be a steal,’ and then post-election … (he can) point to irregularities to say that he is the rightful winner, when in fact he’s lost,” Street said.

Trump has been sowing doubts about this year’s election for months. At a rally last weekend, he said only widespread fraud could prevent him from getting reelected. “The only way they can beat us is to cheat,” he told supporters in Las Vegas.

Baseless allegations about fraud filled the vacuum during Pennsylvania’s protracted post-election vote count in 2020.

Charlie Gerow, a longtime Republican activist and strategist in Pennsylvania, said the GOP will be prepared to report and document fraud in ways it wasn’t prepared for in that year’s election. To be clear, voter fraud is extremely rare, typically involves just a few ballots and even involves Republican voters — some of whom have cast extra ballots for Trump.

An Associated Press investigation in 2021 found fewer than 475 cases of potential voter fraud across the six states where Trump disputed his loss, not nearly enough to tip the election. In Pennsylvania alone, Biden beat Trump by more than 80,000 votes.

When Democrats brought legislation to a House vote seeking to let counties process mailed ballots before Election Day — called pre-canvassing — a Republican lawmaker warned it “could lead to various forms of abuse and fraud.”

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, said he hasn’t heard of a single state where that sort of fraud has occurred.

The legislation passed the Pennsylvania House, which is narrowly controlled by Democrats, but is stalled in the Senate, where majority Republicans are demanding that the House first pass a constitutional amendment to expand voter identification requirements.

“I am very worried about public perception and public concern that our process is not secure, and we need to figure out opportunities to make that process more secure,” said Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, a Republican.

Democratic House Majority Leader Matt Bradford said he also is worried by the legislative stalemate and its potential impact in November.

“We passed pre-canvassing to try to bring some semblance of certainty quickly, to give people a winner as quickly and accurately as possible,” Bradford said. “That has continued to languish.”

Meanwhile, fights over mail voting in the state are piling up in the courts.

One lawsuit by Republican lawmakers would force mail-in ballots to be counted in polling places, rather than county election offices. That would add “immense complexity and burden to election administration,” county governments opposed to the lawsuit said in court documents.

Democrats and left-leaning groups are suing in state and federal courts over the practice of throwing out mail-in ballots with a missing or incorrect handwritten date on the outer envelope.

And at least two Republican-controlled counties are being sued over their refusal to help voters fix technical errors with mail-in ballots — such as a missing date or inner secrecy envelope — to avoid the ballot getting tossed out.

A bright spot is that counties are getting better at counting mail-in ballots.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, 2.6 million voters — nearly 40% of the total in Pennsylvania — cast ballots by mail. That overwhelmed counties and required almost four days of post-election vote-counting before a presidential winner could be declared, deciding the contest.

Counties since then have bought more high-speed processing equipment and fine-tuned their Election Day routines to count more efficiently.

Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, expects to produce results on election night. In 2020, it needed most of the next day.

Philadelphia expects to wrap up most of its counting this fall within roughly 24 hours after polls close, a task that could be finished by election night if given the ability to process the ballots before Election Day.

“That is a very normal practice that happens all over the country,” said Seth Bluestein, a Republican election commissioner in Philadelphia. “The fact that we can’t do that in Pennsylvania is what will cause us to not count all the ballots on election night. It is the only cause, and the Legislature could have fixed it.”

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Follow Marc Levy: twitter.com/timelywriter

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

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Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania High School Wrestling Rankings Before 2026 PIAA States – FloWrestling

Published

8 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Pennsylvania High School Wrestling Rankings Before 2026 PIAA States – FloWrestling

Is Pennsylvania the most wrestling-centric state in the country? Does the Keystone State have the most talent? Or even the top talent? Is it harder to win a state title there than anywhere else?

These all are terrific questions, and the answers may vary depending on who you ask and where they’re from, much like our nation’s great pizza debate, where the answers will vary by region.

What we do know for sure, is that Pennsylvania is well-represented in the 2025-2026 FloWrestling High School Wrestling Rankings, but with the 2026 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys & Girls Individual State Wrestling Championships on the horizon, where do the competitors rank amongst their peers?

If you follow high school wrestling, you’ve probably already heard many of the names, whether it was at past PIAA events, national tournaments, international competition, college recruiting news or signings, etc.

Now, here they are listed by weight class in FloWrestling’s latest Pennsylvania-only rankings.

Among the most recognizable are Bishop McCort senior Bo Bassett (152 pounds), his brother and teammate Melvin Miller (172 pounds) and Adam Waters (189 pounds) from rival school Faith Christian Academy.

As you get ready to see who takes home the titles at the 2026 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships, set for March 5-7 at GIANT Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, here’s a look at where everyone falls in the pecking order:

What Are The Weight Classes For High School Wrestling In Pennsylvania?

Boys: 107, 114, 121, 127, 133, 139, 145, 152, 160, 172, 189, 215, 285
Girls: 100, 106, 112, 118, 124, 130, 136, 142, 148, 155, 170, 190, 235

Pennsylvania High School Wrestling Rankings Before 2026 PIAA State Championships

As of Feb. 22, 2026

Boys

Girls

When Are The 2026 PIAA Boys & Girls Individual State Wrestling Championships?

The 2026 PIAA Boys & Girls Individual State Wrestling Championships will take place March 5-7, live on FloWrestling and the FloSports app.

The first girls wrestling champions in PIAA action were determined in 2024.

The road back to GIANT Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, began with regional competition across 12 sites (eight boys, four girls) in February (Feb. 20-21; Feb. 22; Feb. 27-28; Feb. 28)

Among the highlights at the 2025 event was Bassett winning his second individual PIAA state championship and helping Bishop McCort to a Class AA runner-up finish behind Faith Christian.

Read more: 2025 PIAA Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets

How To Watch The 2026 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships

Live coverage of the 2026 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships on March 5-7 will be broadcast on FloWrestling and the FloSports app, with news, notes, stats and more available on both platforms.

Archives will be available immediately following the conclusion of each match.

If you’re going to be in the area and want to catch the action in person, click here for spectator and ticket information.

Read more: 2026 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships Schedule & Brackets

2026 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships Brackets

Here’s where you’ll be able to find the brackets for the 2026 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships:

2026 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships Schedule

Here’s a look at when everything is going down:

All Times Eastern

Wednesday, March 4

4-7 p.m. – Media registration
4-7 p.m. – School registration (AA/Girls/AAA)
4-7 p.m. – Qualifying wrestlers’ workout (AA/Girls/AAA) (six mats)
6 p.m. – Officials’ meeting

Thursday, March 5 (Session 1)

7:30 a.m. – Media registration
7:30 a.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (AA)
7:30 a.m. – Late school registration (AA)
7:45 a.m. – Skin condition check (AA)
8 a.m. – Weigh-ins (AA)
9 a.m. – Preliminaries and first round (AA), six mats (52/104 matches)
12:30 p.m. – First-round consolations (AA), six mats
12:30 p.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (Girls)
12:30 p.m. – Late school registration (Girls)
12:45 p.m. – Skin condition check (Girls)
1 p.m. – Weigh-ins (Girls)
2 p.m. – First round (Girls), six mats (104 matches)
3 p.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (AAA)
3 p.m. – Late school registration (AAA)
3:15 p.m. – Skin condition check (AAA)
3:30 p.m. – Weigh-ins (AAA)
3:30 p.m. – First-round consolations (Girls), six mats (52 matches)
4:30 p.m. – Preliminaries and first round (AAA), six mats (52/104 matches)
8 p.m. – First-round consolations (AAA), six mats (52 matches)

Friday, March 6 (Session 2/Session 3)

6:30 a.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (AA)
6:45 a.m. – Skin condition check (AA)
7 a.m. – Weigh-ins (AA)
8 a.m. – Quarterfinals (AA), three mats (52 matches)
8 a.m. – Second-round consolations (AA), three mats (52 matches)
10:15 a.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (Girls)
10:30 a.m. – Third-round consolations (AA), three mats (52 matches)
10:30 a.m. – Skin condition check (Girls)
10:45 a.m. – Weigh-ins (Girls)
11:45 a.m. – Quarterfinals (Girls), six mats (52 matches)
12:45 p.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (AAA)
1 p.m. – Skin condition check (AAA)
1:15 p.m. – Weigh-ins (AAA)
1:15 p.m. – Second-round consolations (Girls), six mats (52 matches)
2:15 p.m. – Quarterfinals (AAA), three mats (52 matches)
2:15 p.m. – Second-round consolations (AAA), three mats (52 matches)
4:45 p.m. – Third-round consolations (AAA), six mats (52 matches)
6:15 p.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (AA/Girls/AAA)
7 p.m. – Semifinals (AA/Girls/AAA), 2/2/2 mats (26/26/26 matches)
9 p.m. – Fourth-round consolations (AA/AAA), 2/2 mats (26/26 matches)
9 p.m. – Third-round consolations (Girls), two mats (26 matches)

Saturday, March 7 (Session 4/Session 5)

8 a.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (AA/Girls/AAA)
8:15 a.m. – Skin condition check (AA/Girls/AAA)
8:30 a.m. – Weigh-ins (AA/Girls/AAA)
8:45 a.m. – Skin condition check, finalists (AA/Girls/AAA)
9 a.m. – Weigh-in, finalists (AA/Girls/AAA)
9:30 a.m. – Fifth-round consolations (AA/AAA), 2/2 mats (26/26 matches)
9:30 a.m. – Fourth-round consolations (Girls), 2 mats (26 matches)
11:30 a.m. – Third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches (AA/Girls/AAA), 2/2/2 mats (39/39/39 matches)
11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. – Admit coaches and contestants (AA/Girls/AAA)
3:40 p.m. – Parade of Champions (AA/Girls/AAA)
4 p.m. – Championship Finals (AA/Girls/AAA), 1/1/1 mats (13/13/13 matches)

When Was The 2026 PIAA Team Wrestling State Championships?

The 2026 PIAA Team Wrestling State Championships took place Feb. 6-7 at the 1st Summit Arena in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and included 20 teams that survived the preliminary and first round of the tournament, which was held Feb. 3 at host schools across the state.

The advancing teams made their way to Johnstown for two more days of intense competition, with the 1st Summit Arena hosting the quarterfinals through the championship matches.

In Pennsylvania this year, there were 475 schools participating in boys wrestling.

They were divided into two classifications – 228 schools in AA and 247 schools in AAA – which are further split into 12 districts. Class AA is for schools with 1-308 male enrollees, and Class AAA wrestling includes schools with 309-9999 male students.

Read more: 2026 PIAA Team Wrestling State Championships Schedule & Brackets

Did You Know: PIAA Wrestling Has A Long History

The first state wrestling championships in Keystone State happened in 1938, while the girls were added to the action in 2024. The PIAA Team Wrestling State Championships debuted in 1999.

There are 14 four-time individual state champions in Pennsylvania. Another 30 have won three times.

2025-2026 FloWrestling High School Wrestling Rankings

Top 20 as of Feb. 18, 2026

Curious about how the top wrestlers from each state stack up against competitors from across the country?

Click here to see the latest high school rankings from FloWrestling.

FULL DUAL: Bishop McCort vs. Faith Christian | 2026 PIAA AA Team State Finals

Faith Christian has been dominant in team wrestling in Pennsylvania, and Bishop McCort keeps falling just short.

Trackwrestling Has Joined The New FloWrestling

Trackwrestling officially has merged with FloWrestling, bringing its powerful tournament tracking tools and live data into a modern, all-in-one platform.

Fans can follow every bout with pro-grade brackets, mat schedules, team rosters and detailed wrestler profiles—all seamlessly integrated within FloWrestling.

This move delivers a faster, smarter and more connected experience for the wrestling community. Through the updated FloSports app, users can track live results, explore brackets and even sign up for free alerts so they never miss a match.

FloWrestling Archived Footage

Video footage from all events on FloWrestling will be archived and stored in a video library for FloWrestling subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscriptions.

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Pennsylvania

Man cited after abandoning car in frozen pond at Pennsylvania country club: Police

Published

20 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Man cited after abandoning car in frozen pond at Pennsylvania country club: Police

A man has been cited after police said he drove a vehicle into a frozen pond at a country club in Pennsylvania, left the scene, then spent the night in a hotel.

According to the East Lampeter Township Police Department, on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, around 10:38 a.m., officers were called to the Lancaster Country Club after receiving reports about a vehicle in a pond.

Police said that, through an investigation, it was learned that Sung Chun, a 50-year-old man from Hoboken, New Jersey, had driven onto the property the day before around 8:30 p.m., crossed portions of the golf course, and ultimately ended up in a pond.

Chun then exited the vehicle and walked away without reporting the incident and spent the night at a nearby hotel, according to police.

Credit: East Lampeter Township Police Department

Police said Chun returned to the location while police were on scene investigating the incident and was ultimately cited with “Trespass by Motor Vehicle.”

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Pennsylvania

State College, Pennsylvania: 2026 USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

State College, Pennsylvania: 2026 USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards

In rural Pennsylvania, State College houses Penn State against a backdrop of beautiful country scenery. The university hosts many events, arts performances, and lively festivals that give the town year-round excitement that blends student life with local charm. Visitors can attend a football game, explore nearby parks and trails, and savor the town’s growing culinary scene of pubs and local eateries.

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