Election Night Results To Be Slower In Bucks Co. In 2020

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Real-time results on Election Night will be rolling out slower than in the past in Bucks County this year, county officials said Thursday.

That news is on top of the extra time it's already expected to take for officials to count more than 140,000 mail-in ballots in the election, meaning the final vote tally from Bucks County — a swing county within a swing state — won't be available until days later.

Bucks County Board of Commissioners Vice-Chairman Bob Harvie said Bucks County plans to announce its first batch of results at about 10 p.m. on Nov. 3. He said that the county's new election system requires the vote count to stop while results are uploaded.

"Every time we upload, we have to stop scanning the paper ballots," Harvie said at a virtual news conference on the county's election preparations. "That can't be done simultaneously; it's not possible.

"We want to make sure we are giving people information as we can, but it's not going to be the same as before. It's not going to be a flow of information every five minutes that you just sort of refresh."

After 10 p.m., Harvie said, election officials expect to update the tally every 90 minutes or so.

PA 2020 Election Guide: How To Vote, Who's On The Ballot

This year, as many as 200,000 of Bucks County's 470,000 eligible voters are expected to vote by mail-in or absentee ballot — a number dramatically increased over previous years due to concerns about the lingering coronavirus pandemic.

Mail ballots, which Pennsylvania voters may request through Oct. 27, may be returned in the mail or dropped off at either a county election office or one of three monitored ballot drop boxes the county has set up.

How To Get A Mail-In Ballot In Bucks County

On Thursday, Bucks County Clerk Gail Humphrey said almost all of the mail-in and absentee ballots requested in the county have been put in the mail.

"The ones that are processing at this point are people who have just recently applied," she said.

Officials said that while there have been a handful of concerns about requested ballots not arriving quickly, they are, for the most part, pleased with how the system has worked. They said the county's first ballots were sent to voters on Oct. 7 and, by Oct. 9, some people were already dropping off their ballots at county elections offices.

Other questions about the Nov. 3 election in Bucks County that were addressed Thursday:

How Fast Will The Vote Be Counted?

Commissioners in Bucks County, like leaders in other parts of the state, had asked the state legislature for permission to begin opening and not processing, but not counting, mail-in ballots before Election Day. Under current law, they may not begin that process until 7 a.m. on Election Day.

But the Republican-controlled legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf were not able to strike a deal on that and other proposed election changes.

"Everyone hoped the legislature would change the law and allow us to do some pre-canvassing ... that apparently is not going to happen," said Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, himself a Republican and state representative when new election laws were passed last year. "So, we are stuck with the law that we passed back in June."

Harvie said election workers plan to begin opening envelopes at 7 a.m. on Nov. 3, and that some new equipment should speed the process. He predicted most of those votes will be counted by Friday, Nov. 6 — which also is the deadline for mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive and be counted.

Duplicate Ballots

Commissioners confirmed that a small number of Bucks County voters received more than one copy of their requested ballots. Harvie said there was "no rhyme or reason" to the duplicates, which were sent in different parts of the county and to voters registered with different political parties.

Election officials said no one who received a duplicate ballot will be able to cast more than one. If a bar code has been scanned by election workers on one of the ballots, the other will be flagged if it, too, is scanned.

"No one is going to be able to send in two ballots for one voter," said Humphrey. "It won't work."

Officials also said there was a precinct in Bensalem where there was a mistake on some ballots. Those voters received a corrected version along with an "obnoxiously bright orange" message alerting them and asking them to use the corrected ballot, Harvie said.

Election Day Lines

Officials said that, with so many mail votes requested, they don't expect lines at the polls to be very long on Election Day itself. Coronavirus safety measures will be in place and voters will be required to wear masks.

Harvie said that, unlike June's primary elections, there was little problem this time with polling places shutting down or with recruiting enough poll workers willing to serve.

Voter Intimidation

Officials said they have met with Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub to prepare for any attempts to intimidate voters at the polls.

"Voter intimidation is illegal, plain and simple," Harvie said.

He said Weintraub, in turn, has met with local police chiefs. While law enforcement typically does not have a presence at polling places, there's nothing to stop police from being called if someone presents a direct, or implied, threat to others, officials said.

Judges of Election, who will be at the polling places, also have been briefed on what constitutes voter intimidation and what to do if they see it happening, Harvie said.

Anyone who has not received a requested ballot after an unusually long period of time, or has other voting concerns, may contact elections@buckscounty.org. You may check the status of your requested ballot at the Pennsylvania Voter Services site.