Acting Secretary of State is advising county election offices to county ballots received on time, even those with undated outer envelopes
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The election is fast approaching and with it, county elections offices across the state are preparing to receive and count hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots, while also operating the polls on Nov. 8.
The commonwealth’s Department of State is giving those offices guidance. With ongoing litigation, Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman says her staff is regularly in communication with county offices, holding weekly office hours and fielding calls.
“It's important for voters and everyone in Pennsylvania and nationally to know that we will not have unofficial election returns on election night. And that's because in Pennsylvania, election offices are only able to start opening and processing those mail in ballots at 7 a.m. on Election Day,” says Chapman. “We can expect unofficial results in the next few days after the election. It doesn't mean anything bad is happening. It just means that election officials are counting every vote.”
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out a lower court ruling regarding a 2021 election in Lehigh County that questioned if ballots received by Election Day, but with undated outer envelopes, could still be counted.
Chapman says counties have been instructed to count ballots received, even if they lack a handwritten date on this outer envelope.
Some legislative races are newly competitive in redrawn districts
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With newly drawn districts, approved in February, some midterm races are more competitive than usual in this year’s Nov. 8 election. WESA government and accountability editor Chris Potter says parties have begun using write-in candidates in primaries to bring a competitor into the race by November.
“You've got candidates like Valerie Gaydos in the House district west of the city, now facing a candidate, Debra Turici, who was a write-in candidate. Matt Kruth is a Republican challenging first term Democrat Emily Kinkead,” says Potter.
Much of the action, he says, is taking place in districts north of the city.
Potter says he’ll be keeping an eye on those districts, as well as State Senate District 38, currently held by Lindsey Williams who is facing Lori Mizgorski, an incumbent house member drawn out of her district. He will also keep an eye on the 30th and 33rd State House Districts.
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