Biden Piles Up More Votes In Bucks County

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — As the Pennsylvania vote count continued to look increasingly positive for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday afternoon, Bucks County's tally continued to bolster the former vice president's chances.

Meanwhile, the three-member Bucks County Board of Commissioners released a statement thanking election workers and defending then from attacks by Trump and some of his supporters, who have sought to cast doubt on results in the state.

Friday afternoon, Biden's lead over President Donald Trump had increased by more than 11,000 votes in Bucks County, compared to the start of the day on Thursday.

Shortly before 2 p.m. Friday, Biden led Trump in Bucks by a vote of 197,354 to 182,185. That advantage of 15,169 votes was an increase of 11,617 votes from Thursday morning, when returns first showed Biden moving ahead of Trump in the county.

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At the start of the day Thursday, Biden had 177,019 Bucks County votes counted, compared to 173,467 for Trump. That's a difference of 3,552.

Statewide, Biden overtook Donald Trump in Pennsylvania early Friday during the ongoing ballot count. By 1:25 p.m., Biden had 3,308,149 votes in Pennsylvania to Trump's 3,295,640, according to the Associated Press.

Biden pulled ahead Friday morning as vote tallies were released in Philadelphia. Later numbers from Bucks County increased that lead. There were still more than 100,000 mail-in ballots to be counted statewide as of about 10 a.m., according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

As of noon Friday, there were just under 5,000 more mail-in and absentee votes to be counted in Bucks, according to election officials.

In updating the figures, Bucks County commissioners also thanked and defended the workers counting those votes.

"Any criticism of the integrity of this election is a direct attack on the integrity of those public servants," the statement said. "They are men and women of all backgrounds, ages and party affiliations. They include newly hired employees and others who have worked for decades for Bucks County. The respect they deserve, and the debt of gratitude we owe them, is beyond measure."

The commission is made up of Democrats Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Bob Harvie and Republican Gene DiGirolamo.

In the statement, the commissioners noted that board of elections employees have been working 18 to 20-hour days and weekends for weeks.

This week, they were joined by hundreds of other county employees who volunteered to work around the clock in shifts to help count the vote.

"The preservation of our democracy depends upon the dedication of its citizens," the commissioners said. "These employees showed their dedication to their community through their work this week."

In Bucks County, Trump had taken a lead in early tallies, when most of the votes counted were the ones cast in person on Election Day. At the start of the day Wednesday, Trump led Biden by 23,189 votes in Bucks County's count.

With concerns about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic on their minds, Democratic candidates and officials, from Biden on down, had urged their supporters throughout the campaign to vote remotely by mail when possible. Trump and some other Republicans, meanwhile, downplayed the threat and tried to cast doubt on the reliability of mail voting.

By late Tuesday night, Trump was publicly challenging the integrity of the vote count in Pennsylvania and other states, making unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Multiple lawsuits filed by his campaign to stop vote counts were thrown out by judges.

According to the unofficial results from the Bucks County Board of Elections, the county's voter turnout was over 79 percent. Election Day vote totals had been reported from all 304 Bucks County precincts and the votes remaining to be counted all were mail-in and absentee ballots.

A small number of new votes also may have been added to the total Friday. Ballots that were placed in the mail by Election Day were allowed to be counted if they arrived at the county election by 5 p.m. Friday.