Larry Spahr,

director of elections in Washington County, thumbs through a stack of absentee ballots early Wednesday before they are run through a vote scanner.

Larry Spahr’s voice crackled over the airwaves as Wolf Blitzer, hosting CNN’s election night coverage, asked him for an update late Tuesday.

The race between Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District was too close to call. The election that had garnered national attention likely would come down to the absentee ballots.

Mr. Spahr, Washington County director of elections, told Mr. Blitzer that as a result, county elections officials had changed their plans. They had, as procedure calls for, intended to go home for the night and return Wednesday morning to count the absentees. Instead, they would stay late to count the ballots, first by hand, then using a scanner.

Mr. Blitzer asked Mr. Spahr how long he thought the process would take.

“It’s probably going to take us several hours, sir,” Mr. Spahr told him.

Mr. Spahr was right. About a dozen elections office workers, many of whom had been on duty since 6 a.m., would spend the next six hours examining 1,195 absentee ballots.

They organized the ballots in alphabetical order by precinct from Amwell Township, 1st Precinct, to City of Washington, 8th Ward, 1st Precinct — 125 precincts in all. That process alone took about three hours, Mr. Spahr said Wednesday.

Next, seven workers opened the sealed envelopes containing the ballots, and the hand count began. One person read the ballot while another recorded the vote.

“Rick Saccone. Rick Saccone. Republican straight party. Rick Saccone. Conor Lamb. Conor Lamb. Democratic straight party.”

“We take those extra steps to get all those ballots organized, do that hand count, which gives us a step ahead, so to speak, in the event that we do receive from the court an order to sequester in the event there is a recount,” Mr. Spahr said.

County elections director for 38 years, Mr. Spahr, said the last time he counted absentee ballots by hand and by machine was about 25 years ago.

While some of the elections office employees worked directly with the ballots, others assisted in a variety of ways. One made coffee. Another answered phones. Because the doors to the annex of the Washington County Courthouse were locked, a number of employees took turns opening the door for reporters who arrived sporadically.

Mr. Spahr, Melanie Ostrander, the assistant director of the office, and another man put the ballots through a counting machine after the hand count, processing pile after pile of ballots. They had to scan about a third of the ballots by hand because the machinery wasn’t reading them properly, Mr. Spahr said.

Reporters and other observers watched through a small window. Photographers stuck their cameras up to the window, shooting still photos and videos. The elections workers, focused on their task, barely gave a return glance.

Larry Maggi, the county commissioner in charge of the elections board, ate a few handfuls of peanuts as he watched through the window. A couple of Republican observers watched the process. Ballot after ballot, taken from the top of a pile, were passed between two or three people, then run through the machine.

Several office workers estimated how much longer the process would take. “At least a couple more hours.” Two hours later: “At least another hour, hour and a half.” Two hours later: “Another half hour.” An hour later, about 5 a.m., they were done.

Mr. Spahr raised his arms in victory. He waved Mr. Maggi into the room and wrote the results on a small slip of paper: Mr. Lamb: 609; Mr. Saccone: 547. In the four counties making up the 18th, Mr. Lamb won by a total of 627 votes.

Some of the elections employees were giddy after being up for so many hours. They joked: “One vote for Rick Lamb, one for Conor Saccone.” One employee joked that she would never name her children Conor or Lamb or Rick or Saccone. One suggested a glass of wine was in order.

“We have to be as accurate as possible,” Mr. Spahr said. “We always took the position that each and every ballot and vote cast for the candidates have to be recognized and accurately counted.”