LANCASTER, Pa. — If there's an election, you can count on Lancaster County resident Brenda Sieglitz to cast her vote.
"I don't think I've ever missed an election," Sieglitz said. "I remember coming home from a work trip and getting to the polling place five minutes before it closed, driving my camper."
She joined other community members at the Ware Center to hear experts discuss the importance of trust in elections.
"While I believe in the election process, I certainly want to see what's being done to validate election results," Sieglitz said.
Thursday night's forum focused on what’s new for Pennsylvania’s elections in 2024, combating election interference, and a wide range of topics.
Members of the panel also took questions from prospective voters.
"So the idea of going in and trying to change something with scanning of the ballots and having the system reading differently or what have you is not possible with our system," Lancaster County Board of Elections Chair Ray D'Agostino said.
FOX43 took our question to the moderator Dr. Stephen Medvic at Franklin & Marshall College ahead of the public event.
"Part of the goal here is to have, to build confidence in the election process," the professor of government said.
That includes breaking down the process to the people who will go to the polls.
"There are all kinds of checks along the way," Dr. Medvic said. "[Those checks] make sure that ballots are handled properly, that votes, legitimate votes, are counted and only legitimate votes are counted."
Pennsylvania does two separate audits for elections and the people working the polls are trained and- in some cases- even elected.
This, Dr. Medvic says, is important for people to know, especially given the Commonwealth’s reputation as a battleground state.
"In some ways, all eyes are going to be on Pennsylvania," Dr. Medvic said. "There's only a handful of states that are going to be as close and as competitive as Pennsylvania."
The biggest and most publicized change for the Keystone State in 2024 was the rollout of automatic voter registration. This has resulted in more people being eligible for the democratic process.
As for mail-in ballots, they will have a uniform style across Pennsylvania in hopes of minimizing the opportunity for errors.
In a competitive race every vote counts, and Brenda says voters should be active in their local elections and ask questions before going to the polls.
“I think there’s lots of great ways to get involved where you can see it with your own eyes that it's a trusted process," Sieglitz said.
She also says she wants to see some changes come to Pa., specifically pre-canvassing ballots sent through the postal service.
"People start talking, they start questioning 'Why is it taking so long?'" Sieglitz added. "If we can get those counts ahead of time it would really sure up those numbers at the end of election night and make people feel more trusted in that process."