Government and industry members of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinate Council recently announced that the nation’s general election on Nov. 3 was secure, and that there was no evidence that voting systems were compromised.
“All Pennsylvanians can have confidence in our election system and the accuracy of the vote,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s conclusion that our nation had the most secure election in history reaffirms the commitment to protecting our votes by local, state and national officials.
“Allegations of fraud and unfounded rumors of illegal activity have been repeatedly debunked. Those deliberate and false attacks are un-American and harm our democracy, and we shouldn’t reject them. I thank the election and cybersecurity experts for verifying that our nation’s election was protected and secure.”
The joint statement said, “The Nov. 3 election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.
“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should, too.”
At the end of last week, the canvassing of ballots was nearing completion in Pennsylvania.
“We are extremely grateful to all 67 counties who have been working overtime and putting in an extraordinary effort to count every vote, with so far more than 6.8 million votes having been counted,” said Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar. “The counties continue to adjudicate and count the approximately 100,000 provisional ballots issued to voters at the polls on Election Day, as well as the more than 28,000 military and overseas ballots that were cast in this election.”
Under state law, county boards of election must individually adjudicate each provisional ballot and assess whether they meet the standards for counting. The counties 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.
Boockvar said she will not be ordering a recount and recanvass of the election returns in the counties, as no statewide candidate was defeated by one-half of one percent or less of the votes cast. This includes the President race.
Approximately 10,000 mail ballots that were cast on or before Nov. 3 were received by counties between 8 p.m. Nov. 3 and 5 p.m. Nov. 6. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in September that counties should count mail ballots received through 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, if they are postmarked by 8 p.m. Election Day. The court also ruled that counties should count those ballots if there is an illegible or missing postmark, unless there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the ballot was mailed after the Election Day deadline.
