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Blair County residents turned out in steady numbers for Tuesday's general election, according to Blair County Director of Elections Sarah Seymour.
"Not presidential, but more than we see in a municipal election," she said.
There were 81,846 registered voters eligible to take part in Tuesday's election in Blair County, with 41,147 ballots cast, for a 52.72% voter turnout, according to preliminary election results posted on the Blair County Elections website.
Blair County received 8,478 mail-in and absentee ballots, Seymour said. As of 8:16 p.m. Tuesday, she said they had 700 remaining ballots to count.
Seymour said Blair County polling locations didn't experience any issues that stopped voting.
Tuesday's strong turnout could be traced back to media campaigns on television that encouraged more residents to vote or register to vote, she said.
The Republican ticket featured the contested race for governor and lieutenant governor, where Pennsylvanian voters were asked to choose between Democratic incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis or Republican hopeful Stacy Garrity and running mate Jason Richey.
Other races in Blair County included Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District seat, 30th District Senator in the General Assembly, 79th District Representative in the General Assembly and 80th District Representative in the General Assembly.
Cambria County
Cambria County election staff corrected several minor issues Tuesday morning at polling locations across the county.
The Lower Yoder Township Precinct 2 polling place didn't receive a complete pollbook, but it didn't prevent voters from casting their ballots, according to a press release issued by the Cambria County Commissioners' office.
Election officials noticed at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday that three letters of the alphabet were missing from their pollbook at the Lower Yoder Township Precinct 2 polling place, chief clerk Nicole Hemminger said.
"The backup plan is to give folks a provisional ballot," she said.
She said a replacement pollbook was reprinted and delivered to the polling location at 8:10 a.m.
The press release states that no voters were turned away, and individuals present at the polls were able to cast their votes using provisional ballots.
Parking concerns at the Johnstown Middle School also became a concern for voters in the Johnstown 20th District, Ward 1 and Ward 2 polling locations.
Hemminger said the parking lot was busy Tuesday morning, but teachers opened a few spots for voters. Working with the district superintendent, election officials resolved the issue and provided additional parking.
"It was a temporary inconvenience," she said, noting that more spaces became available after the school day ended.
Hemminger said election officials reported a strong turnout by Tuesday afternoon based on the volume of phone calls and processed mail-in and absentee ballots.
"They were very pleased with the turnout this election cycle," she said.
With all precincts reporting, Cambria County saw a 56.32% voter turnout, with 48,544 ballots cast out of 86,185 registered voters.
Bedford County
Ayme Eichenlaub, director of elections at Bedford County, said area polling locations experienced minor issues such as checking voter addresses.
A Mirror employee who cast their ballot at the King Township polling location reported that election officials told voters to only vote for one candidate in the governor race, as some had voted for more than one, confused about the line dividing the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian candidates.
A Bloomfield Township voter reported a similar experience at their polling location, as did a voter in Colerain Township.
Eichenlaub said she wasn't informed of any issues regarding the governor's race on the ballot.
Similar to Hemminger, Eichenlaub also heard from poll workers Tuesday afternoon that many polling locations in Bedford County had a good turnout.
Bedford County reported 33,079 registered voters, with 19,041 casting a vote for an average 58% voter turnout.