Pennsylvania elections judge changes his tune after vote counting concerns

Pennsylvania’s Jay Schneider said he started volunteering as a poll worker in 2022 due to his own skepticism about how votes were counted.

During the last presidential election between Democrat Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump, a spike in mail-in ballots due to the Covid-19 pandemic led to some of his concerns.

Schneider, who now serves as judge of elections for Chester County, Pennsylvania, recalled his feelings from four years ago to Newsweek in an interview Monday at the Caln Township building.

“I just find it hard to believe that what the 3,400 counties in the country that all of them are prepared for this giant influx mail-in ballots,” said Schneider, a registered Republican, who told Newsweek that he votes for ‘people over party.’ “I think there could have been some shenanigans.”

Heading into Election Day on Tuesday, many voters, especially Republicans, continue to express similar concerns.

According to an October survey from The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only one quarter of Republicans have “quite a bit” of trust in the nationwide vote counting. Those poll numbers improve for local elections officials, such as Scheider, as half of Republicans have a “great deal” or “quite a bit” of trust that municipal officials will count votes accurately.

Just last week, authorities in two Pennsylvania counties flagged thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registration applications, prompting Trump to stoke fears of fraud in the Keystone State. However, there was no evidence the applications have led or will lead to illegal votes.

Shneider says, with two years of experience an election worker, his “opinion has changed.” And while he says he can’t speak for election offices nationwide; he doesn’t see evidence of voter fraud happening in his own county.

“It’s very transparent,” said Schneider. “Here at the polls, we have Democrats and Republicans. Do you think one’s going to let the other get away with something? No. That’s the same thing at the county, plus everything is videotaped. You as a resident can just walk in here and watch things happen. It’s not hidden in anyway.”

As the fifth-most populous state, Pennsylvania holds 19 critical electoral votes, making it the largest of the seven key swing states in national elections.

Polls show Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in a dead heat in the Keystone State. According to polling expert Nate Silver’s calculations, the candidate who wins Pennsylvania has more than a 90 percent chance of winning the election.

Schneider said he voted by mail this year to tryout a new method of casting his ballot. “Just to make sure what the front-end looked like when you do that,” he said.

“This election is crazy,” Schneider said. “I have no idea what it’s going to be like because early voting — there’s a lot of that going on. But I have eight people (working the polls) this year. I never had that many people before.”

Pennsylvania Poll Workers Gear Up for Election Day

This year, Schneider’s Election Day will start at 5 a.m.

Schneider will head to the local Wawa, get a gallon of coffee, then report to the Caln Township building in Thorndale. Along with the poll workers, Schneider will rearrange the furniture so that there’s designated areas for people to line up, grab their ballots, vote, and submit into the sealed ballot machine.

Schneider has a binder full of color-coded sheets that indicate what to do in different situations with voters, including additional paperwork for provisional ballots.

“It’s like our cheat sheet for the poll work,” Schneider said.

This year, Schneider said his team does not need to hand count ballots on top of the machine’s work. Throughout the day, the voting machine will be checked multiple times to ensure the ballots that are entered match with voters.

He said with a camera, a Democrat and a Republican there, “nobody’s going to mess with that.”

“For me personally. I know it’s legit. And talking to the county and other people that do the same job has everybody confident about what’s happening here, at least in Chester County,” Schneider said. “I don’t feel that there’s any issues here. I hope there aren’t any anywhere else.”

Election Day is tomorrow. Follow Newsweek’s live blog for the latest updates.

Follow Newsweek’s Monica Sager on Twitter @monicasager3 for more election updates from the key swing state of Pennsylvania.