Pa. primary election live updates: Voters head to the polls; 2 ballot questions in Philly

After posing for photos with some of the city’s top elected officials, State Sen. Sharif Street said Tuesday during a biannual election day lunch that he is confident in his chances to win a seat in Congress but that he and his campaign “still have a lot to execute.”

Street, one of four Democrats on the ballot seeking the nomination to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, said his campaign prioritized get-out-the-vote operations and “direct voter contact,” meaning its election day turnout efforts are critical to the campaign’s overall strategy.

Street is also endorsed by the Democratic City Committee and most of its ward leaders, meaning hundreds of committeepeople across the city are talking with their neighbors on Street’s behalf.

District Attorney Larry Krasner said that all he wanted at Philadelphia’s traditional election day lunch — where local politicians and operatives gather to gab — was some macaroni and cheese.

But he didn’t make it in the front door.

Krasner, the third-term progressive Democrat, was escorted away from the South Restaurant and Jazz Club on Tuesday afternoon after getting into a combative argument with Ryan Boyer, the union leader who hosts the twice-yearly lunch and is considered one of the most powerful unelected people in Philadelphia.

In Pennsylvania’s primary election Tuesday, more than 1.4 million voters won’t be able to vote on candidates.

The state's closed-primary system blocks third-party and unaffiliated voters — about 17% of the electorate — from weighing in on primary election candidates. The state only allows voters registered as a Republican or Democrat to cast a ballot to nominate candidates to advance to the general election in November. (Third-party and unaffiliated voters are still allowed to vote on non-partisan ballot questions in primaries.)

Unaffiliated and third-party voters are the fastest-growing segment in Pennsylvania, as more U.S residents — 45% — identify themselves as a political independent, according to a January 2026 Gallup poll. This shift is mostly led by young people dissatisfied by the two-party system, polling shows.

Ala Stanford, entering a heavily pro-Sharif Street crowd at a traditional election day lunch for Democratic politicians, said she was confident and believed she’d come out ahead in the city’s heated three-way congressional race.

Smiling and greeting a few supporters, Stanford said she was pleased with the rate of mail ballot returns in wards she believed would see strong support.

Her election day interactions with women in particular were encouraging, Stanford said, after spending a significant portion of her campaign emphasizing that she was the only woman and mother on the ballot.

In West Philly, sometimes getting out to vote is about supporting candidates you believe in. Sometimes it's about who you know — and who your block captain is. 

That was the case outside of Hair Vyce Studio, where Catherine Blunt and Tzara Kane, who are both running for Division 9 committeepeople roles, stood outside handing literature to potential voters. 

Around lunchtime, Tammy Rose, who is “over 60,” but declined to disclose an exact number, described how she votes for every major election but doesn't always come out for the primaries. 

Across West Philly, poll workers’ hottest accessory is their water bottles.

Crowds were slow, with voters getting in and out in less than 10 minutes at spots across the 46th Ward. Some made makeshift fans with election day literature to account for polling centers lacking AC, like the Calvary United Methodist Church.

At the Gold Standard Cafe, which has served as a polling place for more than a decade, voters were able to cool off by purchasing a cold drink.

It’s lunchtime in West Mount Airy, but long lines of voters have yet to come. 

At Summit Presbyterian Church, committee members hoped for a lunch rush. The building houses three divisions for the 22nd Ward. But in the last hour, only one person has voted. 

But the slowdown is not what it seems, said judge of elections Cynthia Albrecht, who noted 69% of folks usually vote at the location during primaries.

A court has granted a 30-minute voting extension at a Chester County polling location Tuesday after voting activities were paused briefly at a school, officials said. 

The extension will affect voters at Owen J. Roberts Middle School in South Coventry. No other county polling places are impacted, officials said. 

The Court of Common Pleas granted the extension until 8:30 p.m.; voting after 8 p.m. will be done using provisional ballots, county officials said. 

Crowd control hasn’t been a major issue in recent primaries, at least in Philadelphia.

Last May, only 17% of the city’s eligible voters decided to cast ballots, despite the high-profile and acrimonious district attorney’s race in the Democratic primary, won by incumbent Larry Krasner.

That was a so-called off-year election in which congressional or presidential races weren’t on the ballot.

At Lower Merion High School, one Democrat and one Republican, both named Maureen, came to the polls armed with different views on whether Gov. Josh Shapiro deserves another term in Harrisburg.

“I like him,” said Maureen Schutz, 83, a retiree who lives in Wynnewood.

“Especially with the bridge coming down right when he was first elected. It was done so fast,” said Schutz, a Democrat, praising Shapiro’s 12-day repair of a collapsed section of I-95 in 2023.

For some Democrats, keeping their party in office was a significant force as they cast their ballots Tuesday. 

Maegan Staats, 42, brings her 6-year-old daughter Scarlet to every election. She was thinking of Scarlet, and her rights, as she cast her ballot in West Chester to keep Democrats in office.

Staats said Scarlet asked her to “please vote for a better president next time.”

In Chestnut Hill, voters are divided on who they want representing them in the 3rd Congressional District.

Scott Hanson, 57, is a lifelong Democrat and considers himself a progressive. The college professor sees this election as a chance to bring back humanity into politics. 

From immigration to women's issues, LGBTQ+ rights and inflation, Hanson can’t single out a point that brought him to the polls. In his view, “Things don’t feel great right now,” Hanson said. 

At about 9:20 a.m., Gov. Josh Shapiro emerged from a black Chevy Suburban, took his wife’s hand, and strolled toward the front doors of Rydal West Elementary School in Montgomery County to cast his ballot, shaking hands and patting backs along the way.

After wrapping up his ballot, he assured Steven Gable, a Democratic committee member and write-in candidate who was canvassing outside, “I voted for you, I think you're all set.” Shapiro then met with reporters to discuss the importance of Tuesday’s primary.

He reminded Pennsylvanians they'll play an outsized role in this midterm cycle, thanks to four competitive congressional races, and urged voters to not take that responsibility lightly.

In Coatesville, voters on Tuesday morning awaited polls to open at the West End Fire Company. Before 8 a.m., roughly a dozen voters had cast their ballots.

Though several said that voting in every election was their priority, President Donald Trump loomed large.

“(He’s) cutting programs that help people who need to be helped. It’s just an entire mess. This is the United States; I’m a veteran. I feel some kind of way,” said Democratic voter Bernard Owens, 68, who works for the Coatesville VA Medical Center. “I put my life on the line for the country. And this is what I got to go through, with a president who is trying to separate all the people.”

Accompanied by her three sons, Ala Stanford arrived at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting Skyspace to cast her vote.

It’s a special day, she said. Not only is the pediatric surgeon running in a highly competitive election for Philadelphia’s open seat in Congress, witness her 18-year-old son, Ellison Frey, become a first time voter on the ballot she is on.

After months of campaigning, Stanford feels encouraged of her chances at winning the race, and hopes voters feel the same.

After casting his ballot in Northwest Philadelphia early Tuesday morning, State Rep. Chris Rabb, the democratic socialist who some polls have showed is leading the field to win a seat in Congress, said he wasn't sitting comfortably heading into election day.

“I don’t trust polls,” said Rabb, who is one of three frontrunners in the Democratic primary to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District. “The most important poll is the one at the polls, and that's the voters, that's the electorate. And I will accede to their collective resolve.”

In an interview with reporters gathered outside Grace Epiphany Episcopal Church, Rabb said he was “exhausted, but exhilarated” after 10 months of campaigning.

A new policy adopted by the Philadelphia County Board of Elections in February could pose a road block for write-in campaigns for the lowest level elected positions up for grabs in Tuesday’s primary: Committeepersons.

Aspiring committeepersons running write-in campaigns will not only have to win a plurality of votes, as in the past, they will also have to garner at least 10 votes.

The change, which has been backed by the city and the two major parties in Philadelphia, has proved controversial with some Republicans, who argue write-in campaigns are necessary in divisions where there are not enough registered members of the party to get on the ballot.

It's Election Day in Philadelphia, with some high-stakes contests on the primary ballot.

Registered Democratic voters in much of the city will be weighing in on the ultra-competitive primary to fill the open seat in Philadelphia’s 3rd Congressional District after U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia) retires at the end of his current term.

Philadelphia voters will also weigh in on two ballot questions.

This year, voters in Philadelphia will be asked to answer two ballot questions:

Home Rule Charter Question

“Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for the creation of the Philadelphia Retirement Savings Board to oversee a defined contribution retirement program for the benefit of eligible private-sector workers, and to authorize City Council to determine the composition, powers and duties of the board?”

Pennsylvania voters who requested mail ballots for Tuesday's primaries still have time to get them in — if they avoid the mail box.

All completed mail ballots must be returned to county elections boards or a county drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday in order to be counted.

"If you still have your mail ballot and you have not returned it yet, do not put it in the mail," Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said in a news conference Monday. "Take it to a Board of Elections office in your county or Board of Elections drop box and return it in person."

Voters who experience any former of intimidation while voting Tuesday are urged to call a hotline set up by the Pennsylvania Department of State. The number is 1-877-VOTES-PA (1-877-868-3772).

"Voters have rights protected by federal and state laws, and voter intimidation and coercion are illegal," Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said during a news conference Monday.

Schmidt said voters can also report any acts of intimidation to the judge of elections at their polling place, their county elections office, or their local district attorney's office.

This might not be the hottest primary election in Pennsylvania’s history, but it may well be the hottest primary day on record from Erie International Airport to PHL.

Philadelphia’s forecast high of 97 degrees might make a run at being the warmest May day, period, in the 150-plus years that the government has been keeping score.

Pittsburgh is heading for the low 90s, according to the National Weather Service, which would flirt with setting a new mark, and Altoona is likely to record a new high, around 90 degrees..