While Pennsylvania polling places are labeled as open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Northampton County Executive Lamont G. McClure said all voters who join the line at their respective polling places have the right to vote, even if the wait time extends beyond the 8 p.m. cutoff.
McClure said the Banana Factory has been one of the county’s busiest polling places. As of 8:16 p.m., many voters enter their sixth hour in line at this location.
In addition to high turnout at the polls across the country, McClure said he thinks the unprecedented wait times can be attributed to the increase of student voters in Northampton County.
He also said he believes the turnout from Lehigh and Lafayette College is astronomically higher than it’s ever been.
Northampton County Executive Lamont G. McClure poses in an office on Nov. 5. McClure believes this is an unprecedented voter turn out from college students. (Marlena Stein/B&W Staff)
“This is a great thing for democracy,” McClure said.
McClure said turnout has been increasing across the county, but he believes the turnout around college campuses and around the whole county surprised everybody.
While waiting times have varied, The Brown and White recorded several voters waiting over five hours at the Banana Factory, which serves all Lehigh students who live on campus.
“I really think that (Northampton) holds fair elections,” Kailey Miller, ‘28, a voter at the Banana Factory, said.
The polling places were initially outfitted with enough voting machines to support the turnout in the past, he said.
In 2020, there were 227,378 registered voters. In 2024, there were over 234,000.
McClure said an additional fourth voting machine was added to Banana Factory to accommodate the increase in turnout.
However, voters at the Banana Factory polling location experienced additional delays due to a broken voting machine, which has since been replaced.
The Northampton votes are being counted at the Northampton Government Center in Easton. Volunteers work eight-hour shifts, working between 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Per state law, the county posted preliminary mail-in and absentee ballot counts on their website at 8 p.m.
Chris Commini, Northampton Election Registrar, said, “I expect to be done counting absentee and mail-in ballots by midnight.” However, the election office is prepared to bring in a third shift of volunteers to work from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. if necessary.
“We’ll stay there all night for your vote to be cast and ultimately counted,” McClure said.
In preparation for the 2024 general election, McClure and Commini said the county worked to increase the security of its election process, from training volunteers and staff to implementing increased cyber and physical security.
While official results aren’t certified until Nov. 6, voters can find updates about election results and turnout on the Northampton Government election website.
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