By Tim Lambert | Editor-in-chief
“Our voters should know that their vote is safe, and the process is transparent and fair, and not to have any fears if they go to the polls. We’re not allowing monitors into the polling places, whether it’s the ACLU or the DOJ. Once you’re outside of the polling place, if they ask you questions, you have to make a choice of whether you’re going to answer those questions or not.” — Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo, on Election Day preparations.
A good Tuesday morning to you and welcome to Election Day 2026. If you still haven’t decided who will get your vote in the contests for governor and U.S. House, feel free to consult our Voter Guide.
Here is what you can expect from us over the next 36 hours or so. The team will be monitoring the polls across the state. Keep in mind, there is a good chance that issues may crop up at some election precincts – like a small number of voting machines failing to work properly or provisional ballots running out – just like they have in every past election. We’ll keep you posted on any major disruptions.
We’ll also bring you the results as they are announced once the polls close at 8 p.m. You can find our coverage on our website, Facebook and BlueSky. Our work will also be part of States Newsroom’s live blog featuring reporting from our sister outlets across the country from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. Of course, we’ll also have a recap on our Folo PA podcast and in The Morning Guide.
Thanks for starting Election Day with us and I hope you’ll stay with us through it all. We appreciate you reading, sharing and supporting our work — Tim.
Voters fill out their ballots at the Board of Elections office in Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pa. October 20, 2026. (Photo by John Beale/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
By Peter Hall, Ian Karbal, Emily Previti and Whitney Downard
Across the commonwealth Monday, election workers in 67 counties were preparing for midterm elections that will decide the balance of power in the state and federal governments for the next two years.
Pennsylvania has been in a national spotlight in the weeks leading up to midsterms, with the election for governor, four highly competitive congressional races, and nearly 250 state legislative seats on the ballot.
As the Trump administration has filed lawsuits to intervene in other states’ elections, cracked down on a small number of cases involving noncitizen voting and pursued detailed state voter rolls earlier this year, voting rights watchdogs have been on the lookout for any potential disruptions.
Despite efforts to improve ballot access and security, voters are wary for a variety of reasons that depend on their political orientation, said Committee of 70 President & CEO Lauren Cristella.
The Dauphin County Courthouse in downtown Harrisburg on October 14, 2025. (Photo by Jessica Kourkounis for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
By Jordan Wilkie of WITF
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo filed charges Friday afternoon against a person for allegedly submitting 10 falsified mail-in ballot applications to the county’s elections office.
Kelly Heather Richardson, 31, from Idaho Falls, Idaho, is charged with 10 counts of identity theft, a felony.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed in state court, a worker for Mobilize the Message submitted the forms to Dauphin County elections Sept. 25. Mobilize the Message is a Florida-based LLC that provides door-knocking and signature collection for ideologically driven field programs, according to legal filings and their website. Though incorporated in Florida, the group’s offices are in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Texas.
By Jonathan Shorman of States Newsroom
American democracy faces one of its biggest stress tests of the modern era, as President Donald Trump’s sprawling campaign for power over elections encounters a firewall of judges, state election workers and voting rights leaders heading into Election Day.
A cascade of courtroom losses over the weekend dealt a major blow to the Trump administration’s last-minute efforts ahead of Tuesday to assert authority over voting and hold the prospect of prosecutions over the heads of state election officials.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, mere hours before Election Day, denied the administration’s final attempt to force California to set aside the ballots of 20,000 people it suspects are noncitizens.
Democrats, voting rights groups and even some former Trump administration officials have said they are braced for a range of possible disruptions and interference, especially as the president stares down the prospect of a blue wave that could wash away Republican control of Congress.
State Rep. Greg Vitali listens to a budget address on Feb. 3. (Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
By Kyle Bagenstose of Inside Climate News
In what might have been his last hearing as chair of Pennsylvania’s House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection committee, long-time Democratic state Rep. Greg Vitali seemed to have little interest in soaking it all in.
During the October hearing, Vitali instead furrowed his brow as he watched a parade of witnesses discussing “roadspreading,” a practice in which some oil and gas companies dump waste brine from drilling on rural roadways, ostensibly to help control dust.
The regulations governing roadspreading are riddled with complex loopholes, and Vitali called the hearing after state officials issued a roadspreading permit he took issue with. That move proved the most recent example of a recalcitrance that may have contributed to ending Vitali’s decades-long career in Pennsylvania’s legislature earlier this year.
University of Miami pediatrician Judith L. Schaechter, M.D. (L) gives an HPV vaccination to a 13-year-old girl in her office at the Miller School of Medicine on September 21, 2011 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
COMMENTARY
By Sujeong Park of The Conversation
I was teaching health economics when a student raised his hand. We were discussing the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, which requires most health plans to cover certain recommended preventive services at no additional cost to patients. I explained that preventive care could cost nothing.
The student had expected that, too. Instead, he said, he received a bill for more than US$500 after his checkup I suggested he contact his insurer to find out why he had been charged and whether his visit had been billed as preventive care. Then another student spoke up. Her husband had paid several hundred dollars for what he thought would be a free checkup too.
The very next day, I received a $78 bill for my own Pap smear. I expected my insurance to cover this cervical cancer screening without cost-sharing. When I called my insurer, I learned that the visit had been billed as a regular outpatient office visit, with no mention of the Pap smear. I then called my primary care provider’s office. The clinic acknowledged a coding error and corrected it. My bill dropped to zero.
As an assistant professor of health policy and addiction studies at Penn State Harrisburg, I know whom to call and what questions to ask when I receive an unexpected medical bill. Many of my graduate students worked full time and took evening classes. Would they know how to dispute a bill, or have time?
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TODAY IN THE CAPITAL-STAR
Energy costs dominate midterms; Climate battles play out down ballot: In the final stretch of the midterm campaigns, the most potent climate issue in American politics arrived by delivery truck across the country. The average price of heating oil hit $6.23 a gallon for the week of Oct. 26, up from $3.60 a year earlier. At that price, filling a 250-gallon tank cost about $1,557 — roughly $657 more than the year before.
Few apartments are open for low-income renters: Fewer than 1 in 20 rental listings across the largest U.S. cities are flagged as reserved for renters under an income limit, according to new data. But average income-restricted rent fell year over year in 13 of the 50 markets, compared with three for market-rate rent.
‘Medically frail’ Medicaid enrollees won’t have to prove inability to work: Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Voters make governors, utility regulators answer for high power bills: As broad affordability concerns define elections across the country, voters in several states on Tuesday will have a say on their future utility bills. State utility regulators, who are facing heightened levels of attention and scrutiny amid high prices, are on the ballot in nine states.
ICYMI
Pa, becomes first state to offer a doula training apprenticeship program: Pennsylvania has launched the nation’s first apprenticeship program to train doulas to support their clients before, during and after childbirth. The Pennsylvania Statewide Registered Doula Apprenticeship Program will formalize doula training across the state and increase the maternal healthcare workforce.
Pa. AG launches effort to prevent cryptocurrency scams at Bitcoin ATMs: Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians lost millions to cryptocurrency scams last year. To help halt the flow of stolen funds, state Attorney General Dave Sunday is urging business owners with cryptocurrency kiosks to voluntarily place signage warning about popular tactics used to trick victims, especially the elderly.
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