Gov. Tom Wolf underscored why vote tallies are not yet complete in the commonwealth while other key, closely contested states like Michigan and Wisconsin have now been called for former vice president Joe Biden.
Wolf said officials here can’t start counting ballots until the polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
“In Pennsylvania you can’t even start to precanvass," Wolf said, "That means you can’t prepare mail-in ballots - by opening envelopes, smoothing them out if there are wrinkles in them, to prepare them to be scanned at 8 p.m. You can’t even start that process until 7 a.m. on Election Day. Other states have days before the election.”
Other factors contributing to the longer counting process include a record number of registered voters this year and a state dealing with 10 times the number of mail-in ballots seen four years ago.