Why Pennsylvania could be one of last states to count ballots this Election Day – CBS News

Why Pennsylvania could be one of last states to count ballots this Election Day  CBS News

With four days until Election Day, Mayor Cherelle Parker and Philadelphia city commissioners are urging people to vote. Officials on Thursday escorted the media through a warehouse in Northeast Philly known as Philadelphia Election Headquarters. Every ballot placed in the city, whether in person or by mail, ends up at the warehouse to be counted on Election Day. As mail-in ballots are returned, they are first sorted by a huge machine that separates the envelopes by ward and division. Then, they are stored securely behind locked cages and won't be touched until Tuesday. Unlike most states, Pennsylvania doesn't allow workers to start processing mail-in ballots until Election Day. Then, starting at 7 a.m., workers use heavy-duty machines known as extractors to open the envelopes, but a person has to physically remove the ballot.

From there, election workers sit at long tables and flatten the ballots before they are scanned and counted. It's a meticulous process, and commissioners said it would be more efficient if Pennsylvania could change the law and start the process prior to Election Day. "This should be an easy fix for the legislature to do. Blue states and red states have pre-canvassing ahead of Election Day. It's a pretty standard election administration practice. It allows us to review the envelopes and to extract the ballots in advance