Pennsylvania Won’t Reach Final Count of Absentee Ballots Until Friday: Report
Battleground state could have delayed count
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The crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania did not commence processing absentee ballots until Election Day morning, which means the final count may not be reached until Friday.
According to ABC News:
When Pennsylvania approved so-called “no-excuse” absentee mail ballots last fall — meaning any voter can request one without citing a reason — the law didn’t allow officials to begin canvassing mail ballots until polls close on election night, according to Lisa Schaefer, the executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. […] Counties began lobbying lawmakers to give them more time to process ballots ahead of the pandemic. But their effort became more aggressive over the summer after several counties struggled to quickly count the deluge of mail-in ballots in the June primary. […] But at least eight counties are reportedly planning to wait until Wednesday morning to start processing and counting mail-in absentee ballots received before the election: Beaver, Cumberland, Franklin, Greene, Juniata, Mercer, Monroe, and Montour.
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Pennsylvania was made the focal point of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden's campaigns.
Trump said Pennsylvania is one of several battleground states where he is performing strongly.
Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign claimed they could still win the election without the Keystone State and Florida.
“While we believe we can win all four of them, and we are doing everything in our power to do that, we don’t need to win them and that’s a true luxury,” Biden campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said.
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“We don’t need to win any of these four big states in order to still get to 270 electoral votes.”
“I think we are going to do very well in Pennsylvania,” she stated.
“We think we are doing very well everywhere. And it’s more than thinking. You know, we are seeing trends, and so you can tell this isn’t just like taking a poll."
"This is based on trends. And we think we are doing very well in states, a lot of states, really. A lot of states.”
