The judge and inspectors of election of each election district shall be elected at the
municipal election. Each elector may vote for one person as judge and for one person as
inspector, and the person receiving the highest number of votes for judge shall be
declared elected judge of election, the person receiving the highest number of votes for
inspector shall be declared elected majority inspector of election, and the person
receiving the second highest number of votes for inspector shall be declared elected
minority inspector of election. 25 P.S. § 2671 (Thomson/West 2020).
Where officers are appointed, “both shall not be of the same political party at the time of
said appointment, but one shall be of the party having the largest number of votes and the
other shall be of the party having the second largest number of votes in said district at the
last preceding November election . . . . The judge of election shall . . . be of the political
party having the majority of votes in said district at the last preceding November election.”
Where voting machines are not used, each inspector shall appoint one clerk. Where a
voting machine is used the minority inspector shall appoint one clerk. Where more than
one voting machine is used, the minority inspector shall appoint one clerk and the county
board of elections shall appoint, for each additional machine, one qualified registered
elector of the county to serve as machine inspector.
The qualifications of clerks and
machine inspectors shall be the same as those for election officers.*
25 P.S. Ann § 2674 (Thomson/West 2020).
*Note: Since no voting machines are used in Pennsylvania, the Department of State has regarded this
provision as applicable to electronic voting systems. Moreover, the Department views these requirements
as a floor, not a ceiling. To ensure smooth operation at the polling place, the Department encourages
counties to split their poll books in as many divisions as make sense, and appoint clerks to check in voters
for each portion of the poll book.
Marian K. Schneider, Deputy Secretary of Elections and Administration (2016).