Unofficial election returns have been submitted to the state by counties across Pennsylvania, even as those counties continue to count the results.
One of the biggest categories of votes counties are still counting are provisional ballots. Nearly 94,000 were issued statewide.
"We certainly know that there are voters that did not receive their mail-in ballots. We know the postal service had a deluge of mail-in ballots," said York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler who attributed that issue partially to the surge in provisional ballots.
"In 2016, the general election, the county had approximately 500 provisional ballots. Fast forward to today we have close to 6,000," she said.
York County has allowed representatives from both parties to observe the processing of provisional ballots. Wheeler said some of the biggest issues the county and party watchers are looking for when processing the provisional ballots include making sure the ballots are correctly signed and sealed. She said some voters also submitted provisionals at the wrong polling place. Provided those voters meet other requirements, their ballots will be placed in a category of a 'partial' ballot.
"Certainly the presidential election is not dependent on where you vote so some of the vote will count, some of it won't, because some of the offices are specific to a certain district," she said.
Wheeler said she hoped to have the processing of provisional ballots done by the end of the week. Dauphin County also planned to finish that process soon.
"We had about 3100 of those," said Chad Saylor, chief clerk of Dauphin County.
Mail-in ballots have also taken time for counties to process. Both Dauphin and York county said the biggest mistake voters made in sending back their mail-in ballots were leaving ballots 'naked.' Under Pennsylvania guidelines, mail-ins must be placed inside the secrecy envelope, then inside the outer envelope to count.
"It's technically a fatal flaw that keeps them from being counted," said Saylor.
Meantime, the PA Department of State estimates statewide approximately 10,000 mail ballots were received by counties between 8 p.m. Nov. 3 and 5 p.m. Those ballots are considered legal at this time. However, the ballots are facing a legal challenge. Therefore, the US Supreme Court has ordered counties to keep those ballots separate and if counties decide to count the ballots, it has directed counties to keep the results separate.
York County is keeping ballots that fall under that directive inside a secure bag, inside a secure room, until the court makes a final decision.
Meantime, Dauphin County has around 490 ballots that fall under that directive.
"We are going to begin to process those, but those tallies will be kept separate," said Saylor.
Wheeler noted York County will also be looking further into issues of long lines reported at the polls. Higher turnout, new processes, provisional and spoiled ballots, and COVID-19 procedures are attributed to the lines.
"We're going to continue to dig deep and look into areas where we can improve the polling location," said Wheeler.
However, leaders in both York and Dauphin were generally pleased with how their counties responded to the election in the midst of unprecedented challenges from the pandemic and the expanded choices given to voters on how to cast their ballots.
"The new voting machines, the mail-in ballots. I mean this was just a crazy year," said Saylor.
"All and all I think York County did a decent job, given the fact that there's been a lot of changes and there's been a moving target," said Wheeler who added that York County saw a nearly 75% voter turnout. In 2016, she said, the county had a 71% voter turnout.
"We would love to see that in every election, not just a presidential year," she said.
Final results must be into be certified in Pennsylvania by November 23.