Voters in Pennsylvania have begun casting ballots in the 2026 general election, and they\u2019re doing it under a federal microscope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s unhealthy interest in the Keystone State dates back to before he infamously claimed<\/a> \u201cbad things happen in Philadelphia\u201d during a 2020 presidential debate. The Commonwealth has been a swing state for decades, and it will now host four pivotal congressional races, with control of the U.S. House up for grabs.\u00a0<\/p>\n That has placed it in the Trump administration\u2019s crosshairs.<\/p>\n The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Pennsylvania for its unredacted voter rolls, which Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt (R) refused to hand over. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in June, making Pennsylvania the 10th state to notch<\/a> a win against the DOJ over this issue (the agency is now 0-25<\/a> in a brutal losing streak).\u00a0<\/p>\n But that didn\u2019t stop the Trump administration\u2019s scare tactics. Pennsylvania was one of four states Trump singled out in a primetime address this summer: He claimed there were 15,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. Schmidt questioned<\/a> the methodology the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used to come up with those figures, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and the DOJ<\/a> both threatened<\/a> to prosecute election officials personally for any incidents of illegal voting.\u00a0<\/p>\n DHS later admitted it lacked \u201chigh confidence\u201d in its claims<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In April, Auditor General Timothy DeFoor (R) conducted<\/a> a voter roll audit of more than 200,000 motor-voter registrations<\/a> sent by PennDOT in the first half of 2024, finding that just one noncitizen was registered (who never voted and had his registration canceled).\u00a0<\/p>\n Also over the summer, DHS began to withhold<\/a> security grants from some states, including Pennsylvania, over their refusal to bend to the administration\u2019s election-related demands. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) joined<\/a> other states in suing over the agency\u2019s alleged extortion scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n In August, CNN reported<\/a> that Homeland Security Investigations was launching a voter fraud investigation surge in a few targeted states, including Pennsylvania. The next month, the DOJ announced<\/a> fraudulent registration charges against three individuals in Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not entirely surprising the Trump administration is so focused on Pennsylvania: A lot is at stake.<\/p>\n Shapiro\u2019s reelection is nominally the biggest race on the ballot this year, but the incumbent appears poised for a commanding victory against erstwhile election denier<\/a> Stacy Garrity (R), the state treasurer. Now, attention is fixed on four congressional races where Republican incumbents are hoping to stave off Democratic challengers in the 1st<\/a>, 7th<\/a>, 8th<\/a> and 10th<\/a> districts.<\/p>\n Despite all the federal attention, Schmidt has maintained that voting in the Commonwealth will continue as normal, recently telling<\/a> the Pennsylvania Capital Star that nearly 1 million mail ballot applications have already been approved this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pennsylvania doesn\u2019t do traditional early voting. Instead, voters can cast a mail ballot in person at designated county election offices. According to the University of Florida\u2019s Election Lab early vote tracker<\/a>, nearly 14,000 mail ballots have been returned in Pennsylvania as of Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schmidt recently unveiled<\/a> a new \u201cOn Demand Mail Ballot Voting<\/a>\u201d toolkit available to counties to streamline the process. Voters can drop off a mail ballot in person up until 8 p.m. on Election Day. The deadline to request a mail ballot is Oct. 27.\u00a0<\/p>\n To get out ahead of possible misinformation, Schmidt also started holding weekly press briefings earlier this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n