Pennsylvania declares a “free, fair and secure election,” though mail-in ballot issues loom

• Anthony Orozco
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  Anthony Orozco was the Latino communities reporter for WITF.

Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman tonight said that elections around the state have been largely successful, aside from the uncertainty of what will happen with undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots.

“In a very dynamic environment, Pennsylvania once again executed a free, fair and secure election,” Chapman said.

The number of ballots ultimately affected by a recent state Supreme Court decision is also unclear, as many counties are still processing mail-in ballots.

Counties in the mid-state did not offer much insight into approximately how many undated or incorrectly dated ballots they received.

York County officials Tuesday reported around 1,500 such ballots, Berks County reported around 700 and Lancaster County estimated around 100 of those ballots.

Cumberland, Lebanon, York, Adams, Franklin, Perry and Dauphin counties either did not respond to a WITF request for information about undated or incorrectly dated ballots or said they could not comment due to it being part of ongoing litigation.

Saying she could not comment due to ongoing litigation, Chapman also did not comment directly on a possible timeline for when there will be a ruling on what will happen with undated and incorrectly dated ballots.

Chapman reported that 1.4 million mail-in ballots were sent to voters around the state. Registered Democrats returned the vast majority, more than 1 million, of those ballots. Registered Republican voters returned around 303,000 ballots.

Sixty-three of the state’s 67 counties received Act 88 funding. As a condition, those 63 counties had to begin canvasing those ballots at 7 am. They will have to report the number of mail ballots they received just after midnight. But Chapman reminded people not to look to these numbers as tallies for races.

“The 12:01 a.m. report is not a vote count; it has nothing to do with counted votes,” Chapman said. “Again, this report will show the total number of mail ballots received by counties that received Act 88 funding.”

In a refrain that other election officials have echoed in the lead-up to the election, Chapman reminded people that it will take a few days to tally all of the votes.

 All vote tallies are unofficial until counties provide their certified results to the Department of State on Nov. 28.

Chapman noted some normal Election Day hiccups with the most notable problem at polls being a ballot paper shortage that occurred in Luzerne County, which has been supplied more paper and has extended polling hours until 10pm.