Montco Completes Early Mail-In Ballot Count, Biden Earns Huge Win

NORRISTOWN, PA — Election officials worked around the clock to complete count of all mail-in ballots received by 8 p.m. Election Night in Montgomery County. While ballots are still coming in, the results thus far show a resounding win for former Vice President Joe Biden over President Trump.

As of 10 a.m. Thursday, Biden had 313,543 votes in the county, to Trump's 182,907, leading by 131,000. Four years ago, Hillary Clinton beat Trump 256,082 to 162,731, a margin of about 94,000.

The early count was completed ahead of schedule, as elections officials had originally estimated it would be completed by around 2 p.m. Thursday. However, these county results are not final. They simply represent the tally of all votes received by the county by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Some 3,378 mail-in ballots received by Montgomery County after the 8 p.m. deadline have still not been counted.

"I'm just tremendously proud of our staff and what they've done to hold up this election," Montgomery County Commissioner and elections chair Ken Lawrence said.

The election turnout in Montgomery County was indeed historic. A total of 508,442 ballots have been received, marking a participation rate of over 80 percent of registered voters. That's despite the coronavirus pandemic sending the nation into turmoil, leading hundreds of thousands of local residents to cast ballots by mail and others to brave polling places on Election Day which had expansive safety measures established.

"There are a number of ballots still under review as part of the official canvass process," a county spokesperson added.

Ballots can continue to be counted in Pennsylvania as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday and received by Friday, Nov. 6, although Republicans are likely to challenge that further. Military and overseas ballots will continue to be counted through Nov. 10.

Final results in Pennsylvania are still being calculated and the final results of the presidential election are still up in the air, although Biden's lead nationally suggests that Pennsylvania might not be the final determining factor in the election, after all.

Republicans held on to a key state legislature seat in the county's closest election: Montco's Closest Race: Republican Todd Stephens Wins Re-Election.

Beyond that, however, Democrats had several major victories in the county:

• Congresswoman Madeleine Dean Wins Re-Election, Defeats Kathy Barnette: AP
• Nancy Guenst Gets Historic Win, Flips 152nd District To Democrats
• Democrat Malagari Holds Off Challenger Miles Arnott To Win 53rd
• Amanda Cappelletti Wins Huge In 17th, Replaces Daylin Leach
• Hanbidge Defeats Friebel In 61st: Election Results
• Democrat State Rep. Matt Bradford Wins Re-Election In 70th
• Democrat Mary Jo Daley Easily Wins Re-Election In 148th District

Full coverage of the election in Pennsylvania.