Election 2020 live blog: Updates from across Pennsylvania

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Be patient: Results of today’s election in Pennsylvania, and across the country, likely won’t be known for days. Here’s how WITF’s newsroom is covering election night and beyond.

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Latest vote counts

Lloyd Smucker wins reelection in 11th District

11:50 p.m.

The Associated Press has called the race in Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District for Republican Lloyd Smucker.

The district represents portions of Lancaster and York counties.

Dauphin County doesn’t expect to finish counting tonight

11:30 p.m.

A dramatic increase in mail-in ballots means Pennsylvania is expected to be counting votes for days, but Dauphin County is on track to count mailed ballots faster than votes cast in-person on Election Day.

Volunteers have been processing mail-in votes in the county since 7 a.m. As of 11 p.m., Dauphin County had counted more than 49,000 mailed ballots of about 54,000 returned.

By the same time, 92 of the county’s 159 precincts were reporting.

County officials don’t expect to finish counting tonight.

There are still about 10,000 mailed ballots that — if postmarked today — could arrive by this Friday’s deadline.

Lebanon County wraps up counting for the night

11:28 p.m.

Lebanon County began counting mail-in ballots this morning and continued until around 11 p.m. Elections director Michael Anderson said staff would resume counting mail-in ballots tomorrow at 11 a.m.

About 48,000 voters in Lebanon County cast a ballot in person. Election workers have counted roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots so far.

More than 27,000 people received mail-in ballots, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. But some voted in person by casting a provisional ballot or surrendering their mail-in ballot.

Lebanon County saw a voter turnout of at least 73 percent – half a point higher than in 2016.

Dan Meuser wins reelection in 9th District

11:20 p.m.

The Associated Press has called the race in Pennsylvania’s 9th Congressional District for Republican Dan Meuser.

The district includes Columbia, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties, as well as parts of Berks and Northumberland Counties.

A mix of emotions for voters in Dauphin County

10:54 p.m.

In Dauphin County, Elisa Thabateh voted for the first time today. She says her top issue is human rights.

“I was anxious,” she said. “I was a little nervous to come out here, especially with the turmoil that’s going on, currently, in the country.”

But Thabateh said she was surprised how easy it was to vote.

Shadawn Berry cast her vote for Joe Biden and said she hopes that a new president will bring change.

“There’s so much tension in the world today and I feel like it’s very important for us to be able to come together so we can, you know, grow,” she said. “You know it’s crazy because it feels like we’re going back into the old age and it’s kind of scary.”

Still, Berry was optimistic as she left her polling place.

Fred Keller wins reelection in 12th District

10:50 p.m.

The Associated Press has called the race in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District for Republican Fred Keller.

The 12th District is the largest in the state. It encompasses Perry, Juniata, Mifflin, Union, Bradford, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wyoming counties, plus portions of Centre and Northumberland counties.

An unusual election for campaign workers

10:26 p.m.

Campaign staffer Nathan Lund is tuning in to virtual watch parties from his home in Harrisburg. He’s a campaign advisor for Calvin “Doc” Clements, a Democrat running against state Representative Frank Ryan to represent District 101.

Lund says it’s a weird night.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s over,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t really feel like it started, just because we were never really working in the way that we’re used to.”

He says the campaign has operated remotely except for volunteering to distribute food and supplies.

Lebanon Democrats usually gather to await results at a restaurant in the city but won’t this year. The County Republican Party is hosting a watch party at its headquarters, though one committee member says turnout is lower than normal.

80,000 mail-in ballots being counted in Lancaster County

10:04 p.m.

Lancaster County began tabulating mail-in ballots this morning, and election workers will likely be counting those ballots and in-person votes well into tomorrow.

County commissioner Ray D’Agostino says 80,000 mail-in ballots arrived at the county election office in time to be counted today.

He says in-person turnout in the county, meanwhile, is greater than it was in 2016, when 74 percent of registered voters cast a ballot.

D’Agostino says thanks to the dozens of workers that are counting volumes of ballots and receiving in-person voter data, the County should have a good number of timely results.

“I mean, not complete results obviously, because we still have the scanning of the mail ballots going on until the early morning hours,” he said, “but we’ll have a decent amount of votes put up tonight.”

Commissioners say they’re standing by a decision to hold off on counting whatever mail-in ballots arrive between now and Friday.

They’re waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will revisit the issue in the coming days.

John Joyce wins reelection in 13th District

10:02 p.m.

The Associated Press has called the race in Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District for Republican John Joyce.

The district includes portions of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, Somerset and Westmoreland counties.

‘Incredibly high’ turnout at some Lancaster County precincts

9:19 p.m.

A handful of polling places in Lancaster County remained open past the 8 p.m. deadline, waiting for voters to finish up.

All day, across the county, the wait to vote ranged from 30 minutes to an hour.

Lancaster city saw a larger number of voters casting a ballot by mail, but in rural communities like Paradise Township, Republican poll greeter Adam Bills said between 70 and 80 percent of registered voters came to vote in person.

“All day it’s been steady,” he said. “Turnout incredibly high. We’re already past 2016 vote totals. So it’s been incredibly high turnout all day long.”

Voters at precincts in multiple areas say their experience was uneventful.

Aside from a few translation issues and at least two potential intimidation incidents that were resolved, in-person voting appeared to run smoothly and safely.

Dauphin County workers more than halfway through processing mail-in ballots

8:59 p.m.

Voting in Dauphin County went smoothly for the most part today, and elections officials are more than halfway through processing mail in ballots.

By the time polls closed, Dauphin County workers had opened and scanned 36,000 mail-in ballots of the more than 53,000 returned by this morning — and more are expected to trickle in. As of this morning, about 10 thousand requested ballots had not been returned.

Dauphin County volunteers and county employees are still working to open mail in ballots. 36,000 have been scanned so far, of more than 53,000 returned. More than 65,000 were requested. pic.twitter.com/YseQ7qJyiI

— Rachel McDevitt (@_rachelmcdevitt) November 4, 2020

After a rush of voters early today, polling places in the county kept up a brisk pace and officials say voter participation could rival other high turnout years.

Latino voters encountering problems in Reading

6:32 p.m.

Voter protections groups and city leaders in Reading called for more help from Berks County Election services as some voters in the city waited over two hours to vote in-person.

Juan Cartagena, president of Latino Justice in New York, arrived at the location after hearing about the troubles.

“A ridiculous long time wait, not processing everything fast enough and allegedly problems with our understanding Spanish surnames — which is a problem because many Puerto Ricans and others have two surnames.”

Multiple voters, many Spanish-speaking, say poll workers were not adequately carrying out their duties, exacerbating the wait caused by high turnout.

Mayor Eddie Moran and Centro Hispano president Michael Toledo arrived to the polling place to assure voters that they and others would do what they could to rectify the situation. Immigrant rights group Make The Road Pennsylvania fed people in line and also provided live music.

Mayor Eddie Moran says he is doing what he can to ensure everyone voters.

Mike Toledo of Centro Hispano: election services sending more interpreters @witfnews pic.twitter.com/i8eAdR1TZg

— Anthony Orozco (@AnthonyOrozco20) November 3, 2020

Berks County Chief Administrative Officer Ron Seaman said election services sent two additional interpreters to assist the other two interpreters already at the polling location. When asked if the county would delay closing the polling location, Seaman only said people in line at closing would be allowed to vote.

“Well, anybody who’s in line has to be allowed to cast a vote,” he said. “I mean, just because it’s eight o’clock [if] people are still waiting in line, they all have to be allowed to vote.”

Reading was by far not the only place in the commonwealth with issues. Pennsylvania Election Protection Coalition reports that it already received more than 2,500 calls to its voter protection hotline by 4 p.m.

Dauphin County optimistic about speed of results

2:52 p.m.

Tallying votes this election is expected to take longer than past years because of a surge in mail-in ballots.

But some midstate elections officials are optimistic they will have results quickly.

Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries says they have three high-speed scanners that can each process up to 2,000 ballots an hour.

“We’re also hoping and anticipating that we will have all of our mail-in ballots counted by midnight or early tomorrow morning,” he said.

Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries says, as of 11am, Election Day is “so far, so good” pic.twitter.com/K35tvmaAu7

— Rachel McDevitt (@_rachelmcdevitt) November 3, 2020

Voters casting provisional ballots

1:56 p.m.

As expected, a number of voters are casting provisional ballots after not receiving their mail-in ballots or changing their minds about voting in person.

Melanie Aponte signed up for a mail-in ballot during a voter registration drive in Lebanon. At 20, she is voting for the first time this year. So when she felt uncertain about filling out her ballot correctly, she decided to go to the polls with her mom.

Aponte says most of the family was skeptical that voting would make a difference.

“Everybody in my family doesn’t really want to vote because they don’t really think it will do any change at all,” she said. “They think it’s all set up. But I’m still trying. Just in case it works.”

She saw a lot of voting information on TikTok, along with signs all over the community that made this election feel too important to miss. The issues guiding her vote are women’s rights and health insurance, Aponte says.