OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Pennsylvania acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman has bad news for voters: There will likely be delays posting the state’s official results in the elections. Again.
Chapman said that it would likely take several days to count and certify votes, according to Lehigh Valley News.
“It’s really important for us to get accurate information about the election process in Pennsylvania,” Chapman said. “So voters and the public know that when there are delays in counting, it doesn’t mean that there’s anything nefarious happening. It’s just what the law is in Pennsylvania.”
Chapman gave the excuse that it was not legal for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to pre-canvas or count mail-in ballots before election day.
Despite the issue that Pennsylvania has allowed early votes for over a month, and thus over 1.2 million absentee ballots are expected, Chapman urged voters not to wait to turn in their votes by hand on election day and send their ballots in right away.
“We have heard that there’s messaging out there in Pennsylvania, as far as instructing voters to hold onto their mail-in ballots,” she said. “As part of our voter education campaign, we encourage voters to request that mail-in ballot now and return it as soon as possible. We don’t want voters to delay.”
As reported by by the Pennsylvania Capital Star, over 9 million voters have already cast votes in states across the U.S. and 635,000 early votes have already been cast in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania alone.
“An overwhelming 73 percent of those votes came from Democrats, with Republicans casting 19 percent so far,” the report added. “The remaining 8 percent of early voters come from people not registered as Democrat or Republican, or who affiliate with a minor political party.”
Pennsylvania’s allowance of early ballots for over a month before the November 8 election has played a major factor in the senate race in particular.
On Tuesday, John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz squared off in the only debate in the race.
In a poll conducted by WPXI, Dr. Oz defeated Fetterman in the debate by an astounding 82% to 18%. Fetterman’s performance was so poor that it changed some people’s minds about whom they are going to vote for.
Chris Cuomo (I know, weird) interviewed people who attended the PA debate tonight:
"I'm an independent, I was leaning towards Fetterman, but I have totally changed to the Oz side."
"I am a registered Democrat… I'm not 100% sure where I'm going on Election Day." pic.twitter.com/lxtB7vlCgk
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 26, 2022
“I’m an independent, I was leaning towards Fetterman, but I have totally changed to the Oz side,” one voter said.
“I am a registered Democrat… I’m not 100% sure where I’m going on Election Day,” another added.
Tucker Carlson Tonight put a capper on Fetterman’s disastrous performance.
Tucker Carlson reacts on Fetterman Dr. Oz debate. pic.twitter.com/TnbV6yTJ3L
— Becker News (@NewsBecker) October 26, 2022
“The Fetterman—Dr. Oz debate just ended ended. Holy smokes. Full blown 30-car Amtrak derailment for Fetterman,” he said.
“If that guy’s elected senator from the state of Pennsylvania, you’ll have real concerns about the system being legitimate,” Tucker added.
As Greg Price pointed out, Pennsylvania has allowed early voting for four weeks. This will potentially end up making the senate race closer than it otherwise might have been, due to Fetterman’s debate performance and signs that his mental acuity is declining in the aftermath of a stroke around six months ago.
After watching that debate, keep a few things in mind:
– Early voting has been going on in PA for four weeks.
– John Fetterman refuses to release his medical records.
– Liberals told us that an NBC reporter was "ableist" for saying that Fetterman struggled to talk with her— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 26, 2022
“After watching that debate, keep a few things in mind: Early voting has been going on in PA for four weeks. John Fetterman refuses to release his medical records. Liberals told us that an NBC reporter was ‘ableist’ for saying that Fetterman struggled to talk with her,” Price noted.
In May, it was reported that thousands of Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots were printed incorrectly.
Thousands of Pennsylvania mail-in ballots were printed incorrectly. @PAStateSec Leigh M. Chapman weighs in. https://t.co/Y6p6eNRzQp pic.twitter.com/uUI0qPUMWx
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) May 18, 2022
“According to election officials, the ballots were printed with an incorrect code,” WGAL reported. “The error was made after the county already approved a test ballot. The problem wasn’t spotted until the first mail-in ballots were opened Tuesday morning and failed to scan. Officials said about 16,000 ballots have to be hand counted.”
Lancaster County’s official statement raises concerns that Pennsylvania’s election will conclude in timely fashion.
“NPC takes full responsibility for the file processing error that occurred when printing Lancaster County’s initial absentee and mail in ballots,” the statement said. “As a result, NPC printed the wrong identification code on approximately 22,000 Lancaster County ballots. This error occurred even though a rigorous testing process, which included testing sample ballots for each voting precinct, was completed prior to the election without incident.”
“Unfortunately, such an error could not have been identified or corrected prior to the ballots being opened and scanned,” the statement added. “Once the error was identified by Lancaster County Election Officials, NPC immediately coordinated with the County Officials to send replacement ballots. NPC will continue working with the County Officials to ensure the impact to the election process is minimalized. Going forward, NPC’s version control practices have been revised to ensure only approved identification codes can be printed to avoid this situation from occurring again.”
It looks like voters will be in for a long night if they are waiting for Pennsylvania’s election results. Once again, it could take days for them to find out who is declared the victor in the election.
