Wolf Urges Patience As Tension Mounts Over PA Trump-Biden Results

HARRISBURG - Gov. Tom Wolf urged patience on Wednesday as he offered no guarantee that the winners of the presidential and other races in Pennsylvania would be determined quickly.

“We may not know the results even today, but the most important thing is that we have accurate results,” Wolf said at a news conference. “We have to be patient. Votes will be counted accurately and they will be counted fully.”

Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar provided an update of where the counting of mail-in ballots stood the day after the election, even though mail-in ballots can be received as late as Friday as long as they have a Nov. 3 postmark.

As of 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, about 920,000 mail-in ballots still needed to be counted, including 175,000 in Allegheny County, 155,000 in Philadelphia County, 115,000 in Montgomery County, 75,000 in Bucks County and 55,000 in Chester County.

Those votes in largely Democratic strongholds likely will determine whether Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden can top President Donald Trump and claim Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes.

On Wednesday morning, Trump had 2,902,348 votes to Biden’s 2,314,865 in Pennsylvania.

The New York Times predicted on Wednesday that an overwhelming number of votes yet to be counted likely will be for Biden.

The mail-in ballots also could play a pivotal role in determining who wins the races for state attorney general, auditor general and treasurer. Republican candidates all were ahead in those races early Wednesday.

You can see more data on the outstanding votes that need to be counted here.

“Election officials are still counting the votes,” Wolf said. “We still have work to do.”

Boockvar noted that nearly three million ballots were mailed in for this election, compared to 260,000 in the 2016 presidential election.

“We urge everyone to remain patient,” she said. “We will accurately count every single ballot.”

Longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz told CNBCon Wednesday that Trump desperately needs a Pennsylvania win to have a chance at defeating Biden.

Luntz predicted that the vote total in the presidential race will “be so close in Pennsylvania that it could require a recount.”

Wolf and Boockvar declined to go into detail as to how the state will respond to Trump possibly contesting the Pennsylvania results if Biden emerges victorious.

Wolf, however, did say, “We will vigorously defend any attempt to attack the vote in Pennsylvania.”