Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar called on all Pennsylvania counties to begin pre-canvassing mail-in and absentee ballots on Nov. 3, as close to 7 a.m. as possible, the earliest time they can do so.
“The outcome of Tuesday’s election could well depend on Pennsylvania. It is vitally important that the more than 3 million ballots cast by mail here be counted as soon as possible,” she said “The country will be looking to Pennsylvania for accurate and timely results.”
Pennsylvania law allows counties to start pre-canvassing mail ballots at 7 a.m. on Election Day, when the polls open. Pre-canvassing includes opening ballot envelopes, removing inner envelopes and ballots, and scanning the ballots. At 8 p.m., when the polls close, counties may begin to record and publish the counts.
“We are directly reaching out to the counties to explain why it matters to get started with pre-canvassing on Election Day, even if they can only do part of it,” Boockvar said. “The overwhelming majority of counties are already planning to start pre-canvassing mail ballots the moment they can. I urge those few counties thinking about waiting until after the election to reconsider.”
Boockvar noted that public and private funding is still available to reimburse counties for the cost of additional resources needed to implement mail-in voting, including staffing, equipment, third-party support, and other tools needed for pre-canvassing and canvassing of ballots.
So far, about 73 percent of the more than 3 million ballots mailed to Pennsylvania voters have been voted and returned to counties.
Visit votesPA.com or call 1-877-868-3772 for more information.
