Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar today reported that the overwhelming majority of mail-in and absentee ballots in Pennsylvania have been counted and the process of counting provisional ballots has begun.
“Pennsylvania counties have been incredibly hard at work canvassing all the ballots to provide accurate results as quickly as possible following best practices and responsibilities pursuant to state and federal law,” Secretary Boockvar said. “We are very thankful to all the election officials working extremely long hours to make our democracy work and ensure that every qualified voter’s vote is counted safely and securely.”
Under state law, county boards of election must individually adjudicate each provisional ballot and assess within seven days of an election whether they meet the standards for counting. The counties will do so by verifying the voter was registered to vote in the precinct in which the ballot was cast, and that the voter did not cast a mail-in ballot prior to requesting the provisional ballot at the polling place.
Additionally, Secretary Boockvar noted that the Commonwealth has been planning to complete a statewide risk-limiting audit, as was done after the June primary.
Launched by the department in January 2019, risk-limiting audits are scientifically designed and highly effective procedures conducted after an election to strengthen election security and integrity, confirm the accuracy of election outcomes, and provide confidence to voters that their votes were counted accurately. A risk-limiting audit confirmed the outcome of the June primary election.