LANCASTER, Pa. — In Conference Room 102 of the Lancaster County Government Building, dozens of volunteers have been working for hours counting mail-in ballots.
Lancaster County is expecting to receive over 43,000 mail-in ballots, over a quarter of which were counted early this afternoon.
Back in the May primary, election results were delayed when Lancaster’s mail-in ballots failed to scan due to a printing error.
Today, county officials say they’ve experienced no problems with the ballots.
“The first few hours, everyone is getting used to the process and getting their rhythm, and now I think we’ll start to flow through [the ballots]," said Christa Miller, the chief clerk of elections for Lancaster County.
“Where it stands now since there haven’t been any problems to date, I don’t anticipate anything out of the ordinary," said John Trescot, Lancaster County Commissioner.
Election officials found hundreds of undated or naked ballots throughout the day. Those ballots are being segregated while Lancaster County awaits a court decision on whether to count them.
“The Pa. Supreme Court did put out an order letting us know what to do, however, there was an appeal submitted to the 3rd Circuit US Court," said Miller. "I don’t know how long that will take.”
Lancaster County does not allow ballot curing. This means that voters will not be notified of ballot mistakes and cannot fix their errors.
Election officials say more volunteers will arrive later Tuesday evening to help finish counting the ballots. The county's goal is to have all ballots counted by midnight.