Mail-in ballots expected to delay Pa. election results
Tabulating mail-in ballots is expected to delay election results. (Photo by Mike Jones)
Leigh Chapman
news@greenecountymessenger.com
Voters in Pennsylvania shouldn无毛视频檛 hold their breath waiting for the results of close races on election night.
It will likely take several days for the full unofficial vote totals to be released for statewide elections and many legislative races as county officials across Pennsylvania count the voluminous number of mail-in ballots that are now pouring into elections offices.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 going to take a few days (to count all mail-in votes),无毛视频� acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Leigh Chapman said. 无毛视频淭hat doesn无毛视频檛 mean anything bad is happening. It just means the election process is playing out (and) every vote is being counted.无毛视频�
Chapman held a video press conference recently to discuss challenges state and county officials will face during the Nov. 8 election. The biggest reason for the delay is the sheer number of mail-in and absentee ballots that cannot be counted until 7 a.m. on Election Day. A recently passed state law offers funds to counties to help pay for elections-related costs provided workers count 无毛视频渃ontinuously无毛视频� until the work is completed, which will hopefully speed up the process.
There have been 1.29 million mail-in and absentee ballots requested across Pennsylvania as of Oct. 24, and 556,758 have been returned so far, Chapman said. That无毛视频檚 significantly less than the estimated 2.3 million mail-in votes tallied during the 2020 presidential election, but it无毛视频檚 still expected to be a significant number that will tax county workers. Act 77 of 2019 expanded the use of mail-in and absentee ballots, making the options appealing to many voters, especially at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 really hard to compare. There is no apples to apples comparison,无毛视频� Chapman said. 无毛视频淲e are expecting a large turnout, especially through mail-in ballots this year.无毛视频�
How quickly the mail-in votes will be counted depends on the county.
Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander has a team of 15 people who will work all day Nov. 8. She expects those workers will be able to complete the job by the time the polls close, allowing the county to release its unofficial results on election night.
无毛视频淭he system we have in place we无毛视频檝e had since November 2020 无毛视频� and I无毛视频檓 confident that we无毛视频檒l have the vast majority of mail-in and absentee results by 8 p.m.,无毛视频� Ostrander said.
Washington County had nearly 37,000 mail-in ballots to count in 2020 and was able to get it done in one day, so this year无毛视频檚 midterms should be a relative breeze. Her office has sent out 19,397 ballots as of Oct. 24, and received 8,606 back.
But larger counties such as Allegheny and Philadelphia will likely count for several days because of the massive volume of mail-in ballots. Greene County also is expected to take longer despite having about a dozen workers who will be split into three shifts while working continuously until the job is done.
That county has sent out nearly 2,500 mail-in ballots as of last week 无毛视频� about half the number it distributed in 2020 无毛视频� but elections officials aren无毛视频檛 exactly sure how long the process will take. This will be the first time they begin counting on Election Day rather than starting the following day as they typically have done in the past.
无毛视频淚 don无毛视频檛 have any concerns right now,无毛视频� Greene County Commissioner Mike Belding said. 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檒l have a shift going 24/7 until we无毛视频檙e done.无毛视频�
Fayette County elections officials could not be reached for comment, but they had received nearly 8,000 applications for mail-in ballots as of Oct. 7. Officials previously said they were confident the county would be able to count all such ballots on Election Day and announce the figures later that night.
The final day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot is Nov. 1, and they must be returned to a voter无毛视频檚 county elections office no later than 8 p.m. Nov. 8. Military and civilian overseas ballots have until Nov. 15 to arrive, and the counties are expected to send their unofficial results to the Pennsylvania Department of State that same day before state elections officials certify the final results by Nov. 28.