Scenes from the polls in Lancaster County, as officials warn of long lines, delayed results

Lancaster County elections officials said they were seeing an "unprecedented number of voters," warning that results could take longer to come in Tuesday night as lines will likely still be long when polls close.

As of 3 p.m., volunteers at the elections office on North Queen Street had counted about half of the roughly 63,000 mail-in ballots that had been received by Tuesday morning. About 700 mail-in ballots were received on Tuesday.

Elections officials said suburban and rural areas were most likely to see lines of voters still waiting after polls close at 8 p.m. Poll volunteers at Brethren Village in Manheim Township said they were seeing more voters than there's been in previous years, a record turnout, according to committeewoman Lisa Buckwalter.

Voting has been "steady all morning" at Church Street Towers in Lancaster, per Kamala Harris campaign volunteer Brenda Stone; there have been more than 200 votes as of 11 a.m.

Voters share their thoughts

Patricia Phillips, 66, of Warwick Township, was voting at St. James Church on Woodcrest Avenue in Lititz. said she thinks a lot of people will be out voting today because of the "controversy with Harris. She just kind of slid in here. Nobody voted her in. She just took over." Phillips was wearing red because she voted for Trump, but she'll be surprised if Trump wins because she thinks the election will be rigged in Harris' favor.

Melanie MacDonald, 84, of Lititz Borough, said she voted for Harris because she "did not want to see Trump president again" and a "woman president is appealing to me ... I'd like to see that before I die."

Arielle Miller, 33, of Lititz Borough, said she was so excited when she cast her vote for Harris today that she cried.

"One of the reasons I was crying is because there was a congressman who tweeted about wanting to get rid of the 19th Amendment... . We're more than half the country. You can't just silence our voices," Miller said. She voted with her husband Andrew, 36.

In East Hempfield Township at the Vietnamese Alliance Church on Nolt Road, Greg Ganse, a registered Republican in his mid-40s, said he wished there were "better" candidates for the presidential election.

"We have two interesting candidates, and I don't know if I feel great about either," he said.

Ed Lebrenton, 61, also voting in East Hempfield, said he voted straight Republican ticket.

"I want to change the administration," Lebrenton said. One of the biggest issues he was voting on, he said, was energy independence, and he said he feels Republicans put more emphasis on that issue. He said that, win or lose, he believes his vote is being counted fairly.

Lauren Smith, 36, was voting a straight Democrat ticket in East Hempfield and said her main issue is women's issues, though she declined to elaborate. She said she knows some people who decided not to vote because they don't believe in either of the major candidates.

"I feel honored and privileged to cast my vote today," Smith said.

Mike Coley, 52, of East Hempfield, echoed that sentiment. "I want to be part of history," he said.

In Manor Township, 29-year-old Jonathan Reese had his 2-year-old son, Elijah, in tow at the municipal center on West Fairway Drive. Reese said he really valued voting with his son because of the fond memories he has with his parents voting. He feels like his vote really matters in Pennsylvania in this election, he said, adding that things were more divisive than they had been, and that the name-calling and rhetoric was getting out of hand.

He said he had heard of a lot of general unhappiness from some of his friends who wanted to abstain from the presidential election or vote third-party. Reese voted Republican, saying he really valued hard work and personal responsibility.

Lisa and Bill Villani of Manor Township, who are in their 50s and said the only issue they were voting on was "the orange one," said their 27-year-old son decided not to vote in this election because he doesn't feel like his vote counts. Divisiveness is "worse than it's ever been. The hatred is horrible," Lisa Villani said.

Karen Demi, 68, of East Lampeter Township said she voted for Trump because "he's a good man," she said. Demi lived in New York City and would frequent the Trump Tower, where she said Trump was often present and kind to everyone he met. "I really think that person still exists," she said.

She said she voted for him in 2016 and 2020 and would vote for him if he ran another 22 times. "Yeah he does crazy stuff. Crazy is good sometimes," she said. "Everything he touches turns to gold."

Chester Buohl, 84, of East Lampeter Township, wouldn't say who he was voting for but said, "I'm Republican, let's put it that way." He was casting his ballot at the Harrisburg Area Community College campus on Old Philadelphia Pike. He didn't feel excited about voting today because he wasn't too thrilled about either candidate. "I didn't like either of them," he said of Harris and Trump.

Jared Martin, 22, took a break in between his classes at Millersville University to vote at the Harrisburg Area Community College polling location. The East Lampeter Township resident, however, wasn't too excited about casting his vote. Overall, he said this election feels bigger than 2016 and 2020. It's more divisive but he can't put his finger on why.

While he "enjoys democracy," Martin pointed to frustrations with "the hecticness with all the election campaign and just constantly being pestered to go and vote."

"It's a right that I enjoy to exercise... but personally, I find the political scene to be a bit depressing."

Beezer, Sturla at the polls

In Lancaster city, Republican state House hopeful Eric Beezer was videotaping members of the Franklin & Marshall College Democrats as they handed out campaign literature to voters outside the Lancaster Theological Seminary near campus.

Julianna Morton, vice president of the college Democrats, said she and other members of her organization asked Beezer to stop filming them, to no avail. Beezer, 43, of Manheim Township, posted the footage on his campaign TikTok page. His intent in doing so was unclear.

Beezer ran against Manheim Township School Board President Nikki Rivera the the 96th Legislative District seat being vacated by incumbent Rep. Mike Sturla of Lancaster. The district covers northern Lancaster city, East Petersburg and much of Manheim Township.

Sturla, who has represented the district since 1991, arrived outside the seminary around 9:30 a.m. Beezer approached Sturla while filming, asking Sturla questions about his retirement. Sturla then approached Beezer, attempting to block the camera.

Beezer claimed he'd been assaulted, but the city police department said he had not filed a complaint.

Sturla said he did not touch Beezer. He said he was reaching to cover the camera because Beezer was recording him without consent.

Beezer has made several inflammatory accusations about Sturla on social media. He has also posted several videos while he confronts local Democrats and reporters from LNP | LancasterOnline.

After 11 a.m., Beezer was seen shouting at Democratic Party volunteer Eric Knorr, of Lancaster city, who was promoting the passage of the Home Rule Charter. "Are you guys dumb or just dishonest?" Beezer asked, while his wife, Valerie, stood between Beezer and Knorr.

Standing outside with Beezer was local GOP strategist Ron Harper Jr. Multiple Democrats present said Harper was shouting at voters about the GOP policy platform as they entered the seminary to vote.

'By hook or by crook'

Philip and Linda Malin of East Lampeter Township sent an email into LancasterOnline to report on their voting experience.

They wrote: "(A)after the fiasco of not getting our mail in ballots until this Saturday, we were determined by hook or by crook to get them in to the voting office. It was your newspaper that ran an saying that if you were having trouble about this and you are disabled call this number. We met a wonderful worker named Jose who assured us that if we could get to 150 North Queen St. on the Red Rose Access van, she would come on the bus and retrieve our ballots.

"And so she did with a smile on her face and a big hug for both of us. ... We are thrilled that we did our duty. I hope everyone got a chance like us to vote one way or the other, if not by mail, then in person. Many thanks to all the wonderful workers, especially Josette."

An update from Little Britain

By around 11:30 a.m., just over 700 people had voted at the Little Britain Township Building.

The line for "A though N" was out the door. Anyone "O through Z" who showed up walked right in.

"Funny how half the alphabet showed up at once," said one woman, eliciting a few chuckles that punctuated an otherwise quiet line of people, standing looking in large part straight ahead.

One man waiting in line asked another on his way out if he'd "voted for the right guy" to which the man responded he thought so, but that he wished he had a better choice.

Mail-in ballot count

Just under 63,000 mail-in ballots were received at the Lancaster County elections office on North Queen Street in Lancaster city, with about 70 volunteers on hand around 7 a.m. when the count began. About 10,000 had been scanned by 10 a.m., and elections officials said they expected to be finished just after polls close at 8 p.m. Additional mail-in ballots can be dropped off in person throughout the day.

In 2020, nearly 91,000 mail ballots were returned by Lancaster County voters.

In recent elections, the county has processed nearly 100% of the vote within six hours of the 8 p.m. poll closing time, leaving only provisional ballots to be adjudicated by the county, a process that must begin within seven days after the election. In 2020, about 5,000 provisional ballots were cast in the county.

Lancaster County elections officials said there were two or three scanner issues so far by 10 a.m. Tuesday, but they were attributed mostly to human error and said the correct procedures were followed in those instances. Ballots submitted during those times have been set aside, and if election workers can't scan them before polls close, the county will be able to scan them on Friday.

A ballot scanner was also reported down at the 29 E. Walnut St. polling place at First United Methodist Church in Lancaster city from about 7:15 to 8:15 a.m., according to Jacob Lyles, a volunteer for Republican Committee of Lancaster County. Ballots are locked and secured and will be scanned in at the end of the day, he said. No other issues had been reported as of around 9 a.m.

Leading up to Election Day

Central Pennsylvania, in the weeks and days leading up to Election Day, saw representatives of the presidential campaigns tracking through the region. Harris visited Harrisburg last week; her running mate, Tim Walz, will visit today. Trump visited Lancaster and Lititz on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Lancaster County, officials on Monday were juggling two different election issues ahead of in-person voting. More than 400 voter registration applications that were part of a batch of 2,500 received last month were "fraudulent. " The details counter Trump's statements, including those made at his Lancaster Airport campaign rally on Sunday, that 2,600 ballots had been discovered by the county and that they all had the same penmanship.

Additionally, though the elections board did not offer many details about the challenges to the eligibility of 723 overseas voters, officials announced an Elections Board hearing on the matter will take place at 9 a.m. Friday in the commissioners meeting room in the Lancaster County Government Center.

Long lines were also reported at the theological center on James Street near Franklin & Marshall College. F&M had been the focus of questions over communications from the county elections office after an F&M Votes representative said on Oct. 19 that the deputy clerk of elections told her that students from other states shouldn't be voting in Pennsylvania.

The clerk also questioned the students' use of F&M's main address for all of their applications, though students from the college had been registering to vote with that address for at least 20 years.

Two other people spoke of being challenged with incorrect information at the elections office. One F&M student, who was already registered to vote in Lancaster County, went to the elections office to request a mail ballot. He said the deputy clerk asked him why he was voting here and said he should instead vote in his home state.

The student's registration was canceled by the elections office, though it was restored days later. Lancaster County officials have challenged the assertion that the elections office failed to process student registrations , and commissioners later in the month sent a cease and desist order to the college, warning not to talk about county employees.