Pennsylvania Has Millions of Votes Left to Count, Governor Tom Wolf Says
Published Date: 11/4/2020
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
The Governor of Pennsylvania and the Secretary of State confirm there are still 'millions' of ballots to be counted before a winner in the presidential election is declared in their state. "The delay that we're seeing is a sign that the system is working," said Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. "This is a new system went into effect with Act 77 last year, and there are three million, millions of mail in ballots that are being counted. And that takes longer than the way we used to do it with the standard in-person voting." Voters turned out in large numbers for an election that produced few of the glitches some had feared. But the state's decision to greatly expand mail-in voting means it could still be days before it's clear whether President Donald Trump repeated his surprise Pennsylvania victory from four years ago or whether native son Joe Biden would collect its 20 electoral votes, the most of any state yet to be called by The Associated Press. "Make no mistake, our democracy is being tested in this election. This is a stress test of the ideals upon which this country was founded," said Wolf. "I have full faith that we will similarly meet this moment and I will do everything within my power to ensure that the results are fair and that every vote is counted." Hearings were scheduled Wednesday in two Election Day lawsuits filed by Republicans, both seeking to prevent voters whose mail-in ballots were disqualified for technical reasons from fixing it or casting a new ballot. One is in federal court in Philadelphia, the other is in a statewide appellate court in Harrisburg. Republicans and a voter filed a federal lawsuit accusing officials in suburban Philadelphia's Montgomery County of illegally processing 49 mail-in ballots before Tuesday for the purpose of allowing voters to fix problems with The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Republican effort to block the counting of late-arriving mail-in votes, but it could revisit the issue. Trump has tried to sow doubt about the fairness of the election, saying the only way Democrats could win Pennsylvania is to cheat. Later in an appearance at the White House, he made premature claims of victory and said he would take the election to the Supreme Court. It was unclear exactly what legal action he might try to pursue. "Pennsylvania will have a fair election and that election will be free of outside influences," said Wolf. "I will vigorously and we all will vigorously defend against any attempt to attack that vote in Pennsylvania. And every Pennsylvania, every Pennsylvania can have confidence in the outcome of this election due to the diligence of the county election officials." Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm QUICKTAKE ON SOCIAL: Follow QuickTake on Twitter: twitter.com/quicktake Like QuickTake on Facebook: facebook.com/quicktake Follow QuickTake on Instagram: instagram.com/quicktake Subscribe to our newsletter: https://bit.ly/2FJ0oQZ Email us at [email protected] QuickTake by Bloomberg is a global news network delivering up-to-the-minute analysis on the biggest news, trends and ideas for a new generation of leaders.