Elections were held inPennsylvania on November 3, 2020. On that date, the state held elections forPresident of the United States,U.S. House of Representatives,Pennsylvania State Senate,Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and various others.
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| Registered | 9,090,962 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnout | 76.1%[1] | |||
The office of thePennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth oversaw the election process, includingvoting andvote counting.[2] Tovote by mail, registered Pennsylvania voters had to request a ballot by October 27, 2020.[3] By early October, 2,568,084 voters requested mail ballots.[4]
On October 29, 2019, thePennsylvania House of Representatives passed Act 77 by a vote of 138–61.[5] Later that day, thePennsylvania State Senate passed Act 77 by a vote of 35–14.[6]GovernorTom Wolf signed Act 77 into law two days later.[7] The law enacted numerous changes to Pennsylvania's election code. Voters were allowed torequest a mail-in ballot without providing a reason.[7] A person could register to vote up to 15 days before an election and vote in that election, instead of the previous 30-day period.[7] It said that mail-in ballots and absentee ballots would be valid if received by 8 p.m. on election day.[7] The law eliminated the option of pushing one button to vote for all candidates of the same party, calledstraight-ticket voting; instead, a voter would need to select each candidate in order to vote the same way.[7] The law said the state would cover up to 60 percent of the cost for counties to replace their voting machines with systems that had voter-verifiable paper.[7] Governor Wolf described the changes as the "most significant improvement to Pennsylvania’s elections in more than 80 years".[8]
In response to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania State Senate both unanimously passed Act 12 on March 25, 2020,[9][10] and Gov. Wolf signed it into law two days later.[11] Act 12 delayed the primary election from April 28 to June 2. Act 12 also allowed counties to begin counting ballots at 7 a.m. on election day rather than being required to wait until 8 p.m. to do so.[12]
Pennsylvania had 20 electoral votes in the Electoral College.[13] Incumbent RepublicanDonald Trump won the state in2016 with 48.2% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Joe Biden | 3,458,229 | 50.01 | ||
| Republican | Donald Trump (incumbent) | 3,377,674 | 48.84 | ||
| Libertarian | Jo Jorgensen | 79,380 | 1.15 | ||
| Total votes | 6,915,283 | 100.00 | |||
| Democraticwin | |||||
Voters in Pennsylvania elected 18 candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the 18 congressional districts.[14]
| District | Democratic nominee | Republican nominee | Libertarian nominee | Independent candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District 1 | Christina Finello | Brian Fitzpatrick, incumbent | Steve Scheetz (write-in) | |
| District 2 | Brendan Boyle, incumbent | David Torres | ||
| District 3 | Dwight Evans, incumbent | Michael Harvey | ||
| District 4 | Madeleine Dean, incumbent | Kathy Bernette | Joe Tarshish (write-in) | |
| District 5 | Mary Gay Scanlon, incumbent | Dasha Pruett | ||
| District 6 | Chrissy Houlahan, incumbent | John Emmons | John H. McHugh (write-in) | |
| District 7 | Susan Wild, incumbent | Lisa Scheller | Anthony Sayegh (write-in) | |
| District 8 | Matt Cartwright, incumbent | Jim Bognet | ||
| District 9 | Gary Wegman | Dan Meuser, incumbent | ||
| District 10 | Eugene DePasquale | Scott Perry, incumbent | ||
| District 11 | Sarah Hammond | Lloyd Smucker, incumbent | ||
| District 12 | Lee Griffin | Fred Keller, incumbent | Elizabeth Terwilliger (write-in) | |
| District 13 | Todd Rowley | John Joyce, incumbent | ||
| District 14 | William Marx | Guy Reschenthaler, incumbent | ||
| District 15 | Robert Williams Ronnie Ray Jenkins (write-in) | Glenn Thompson, incumbent | ||
| District 16 | Kristy Gnibus | Mike Kelly, incumbent | ||
| District 17 | Conor Lamb, incumbent | Sean Parnell | ||
| District 18 | Michael Doyle, incumbent | Luke Negron | Donald Nevills (write-in) Daniel Vayda (write-in) |
Three executive offices were up for election in Pennsylvania's general election: auditor general, attorney general, and treasurer.[15]
Incumbent Democraticattorney generalJosh Shapiro ran for re-election to a second term. He was first elected in2016 with 51.4% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Josh Shapiro (incumbent) | 3,461,472 | 50.85 | |
| Republican | Heather Heidelbaugh | 3,153,831 | 46.33 | |
| Libertarian | Daniel Wassmer | 120,489 | 1.77 | |
| Green | Richard Weiss | 70,804 | 1.04 | |
| Total votes | 6,806,596 | 100.00 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
Incumbent DemocratictreasurerJoe Torsella ran for re-election to a second term. He was first elected in2016 with 50.7% of the vote. He lost re-election to businesswoman and retiredU.S. ArmyColonelStacy Garrity.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Stacy Garrity | 3,291,877 | 48.68 | |
| Democratic | Joe Torsella (incumbent) | 3,239,331 | 47.91 | |
| Libertarian | Joseph Soloski | 148,614 | 2.20 | |
| Green | Timothy Runkle | 81,984 | 1.21 | |
| Total votes | 6,761,806 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | ||||
Incumbent DemocraticAuditor GeneralEugene DePasquale was term-limited and ineligible to seek a third consecutive term. He was re-elected in2016 with 50.0% of the vote.Dauphin County controllerTimothy DeFoor won the election against formerPhiladelphia deputy mayorNina Ahmad.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Timothy DeFoor | 3,338,009 | 49.44 | |
| Democratic | Nina Ahmad | 3,129,131 | 46.35 | |
| Libertarian | Jennifer Moore | 205,929 | 3.05 | |
| Green | Olivia Faison | 78,588 | 1.16 | |
| Total votes | 6,751,657 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | ||||
25 of 50 seats (odd-numbered districts) in the Pennsylvania Senate were up for election in Pennsylvania's general election.[16]
A special election was also held on January 14 in the48th senatorial district after the resignation of Republican senatorMike Folmer.
All 203 seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives were up for election in the general election.[17]
Special elections were held for the8th,18th,58th, and190th districts prior to the general election.
There were no statewide ballot measures up for election in this general election; however, there were local ballot measures inPittsburgh andPhiladelphia.[18]
Detailed state statistics
Both political parties are mounting legal challenges across many states, with mail-in voting at the center
A Notice by the Census Bureau on 12/05/2016
Pennsylvania
