Polling locations across Central Pennsylvania and the rest of the state witnessed an increase in voter turnout and enthusiasm on Election Day.
Democrats across Pennsylvania were enthusiastic about Tuesday’s election between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as voter turnout surged around the commonwealth.
Both Harris and Trump focused on winning Pennsylvania, which is considered one of the key swing states, and ended their campaigns with rallies across the state on Monday.
“I spent time touring around precinct polling locations in Cumberland County this morning,” Matt Roan, Cumberland County Democratic Party Chair, said in an interview.
“Very big rushes of voters in the morning. Our turnout tracking shows very high turnout compared to benchmarks in prior election cycles. We’re expecting this to be a very close and very high turnout election.”
Increased turnout can be seen throughout Central Pennsylvania on Tuesday when plenty of polling places reached their 2020 voter turnout figures by the early evening hours.
One polling place that reached their 2020 voter turnout benchmark early on Tuesday was the polling location stationed inside the Carlisle Baptist Church.
“There’s a lot of people voting, which is exciting,” Deb Fulham-Winston told The Keystone. “Normally when we come at this time, it’s empty, and there was a line.
“I heard the turnout is pretty much like 400 or 500 people compared to 600 in the previous election.”
Central Pennsylvania wasn’t the only portion of Pennsylvania that was dealing with increased turnout.
Students at colleges across Pennsylvania were faced with lines lasting as long as three or four hours as turnout surged on college campuses.
Additionally, Philadelphia passed its voter turnout levels when compared to the previous two presidential elections.
