Mail-in vote counting continues in Montco
NORRISTOWN » Despite a pandemic, large voter turnout and a deluge of mail-in ballots to process, Montgomery County officials said Tuesday’s general election went smoothly with no major glitches.
Officials added the counting process was continuing Wednesday and would continue until each vote is counted.
“I think the county has done a superb job handling this election. We should all be very grateful to the county staff who has been working tirelessly on this,” county Commissioner Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr., who is also chairman of the county Board of Elections, said during a news briefing on Wednesday.
“We essentially have been running an election for a month now
since ballots went out, with our drop off locations, with our satellite offices and we nearly tripled the size of our Voter Services staff. I think the people of Montgomery County should be very proud of the way this election was run,” said Lawrence.
By Wednesday morning, election officials had counted 100% of all in-person votes that were cast at county polling places on Tuesday.
“All of those results are in and on our dashboard,” Lawrence said.
The county dashboard is available at https://electionresults-montcopa.hub.arcgis.com/
Officials said 279,956 people had applied for a mail-in ballot during the general election. By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the county had received 243,408 mailin ballots and 202,675 or 83.26%, had been counted, according to county officials.
“We expect that these numbers will continue to evolve as the military and overseas ballots continue to be received and they can be received up until one week after the election,” Lawrence explained.
The number of mail-in ballots may change as they can be accepted until 5 p.m. Nov. 6.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order last week stating that election officials must count mailed ballots that arrive by 5 p.m. on the Friday after the election, unless there is evidence that the ballot was mailed after Election Day.
On Wednesday, the county received 153 mailin ballots and additional mail-in ballots could still be delivered Thursday and Friday.
“Our Voter Services staff will continue counting 24 hours a day until the count is complete. We again ask for your patience as we work to conduct this count as efficiently and safely as possible and we remain committed here in Montgomery County that we will count each and every ballot that we have received,” Lawrence said.
“This is a normal part of the process. We knew we would have more mailin ballots and we just need time to count them,” Lawrence added. “Our people have been working tirelessly around the clock and they’re getting the ballots counted.”
The results will be routinely updated and will be posted at www.montcopa.org/election2020
While the count was continuing, by 5 p.m. Wednesday, unofficial election results for the presidential race showed Democrat Joseph Biden garnering 286,976 votes in the county while Republican Donald J. Trump had received 173,004 votes.
The county began processing and scanning mailin ballots at 7 a.m. on Tuesday under rules set by the state Legislature that prohibited pre-canvassing before that time.
“Certainly, if we had been able to pre-canvass and start actually counting at 7 a.m. on Election Day we probably would have been done (Wednesday). It would have been done a lot quicker. It would have helped to have had that pre-canvassing period before Election Day,” Lawrence said.
Officials reported turnout was running at about 74% for the election.
Officials did not see any significant problems at polling places on Tuesday and reported only run-ofthe-mill election incidents.
“There was no trouble. There were some normal Election Day things. I’m just tremendously proud of our staff and what they’ve done this election,” Lawrence said.
Kathy Barnette, a GOP candidate in the 4th Congressional District, filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia challenging certain procedures used by the Montgomery County Board of Election during the intake of mailin ballots.
A federal judge in Philadelphia heard testimony regarding those claims during a hearing on Wednesday morning.
“We believe our process is sound and permissible under the Election Code. We presented testimony in court today (Wednesday) and we expect a decision in the coming days,” Lawrence said.
Barnette, according to unofficial election results lost her bid against incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean. The 4th Congressional District includes most of Montgomery County and a portion of eastern Berks County.
“We again ask for your patience as we work to conduct this count as efficiently and safely as possible and we remain committed here in Montgomery County that we will count each and every ballot that we have received.” — Montgomery County Commissioner Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr.