As Tuesday’s general election approaches, Luzerne County elections two years ago serve as a reminder that unofficial winners may not be clear on election night if the tallies are close.
Jamie Walsh was not officially certified as the April 2024 primary election Republican nominee in the 117th Legislative District state representative race until September that year, and Walsh won by only four votes over incumbent Mike Cabell.
The final primary tally was 4,735 votes for Walsh and 4,731 for Cabell.
Resolution took time because Walsh and Cabell both filed challenges over the acceptance and rejection of specific provisional ballots before the county Election Board that then worked their way through the county Court of Common Pleas, the Commonwealth Court, and state Supreme Court.
Cabell had considered filing a recount request in county court but ultimately chose to move on, acknowledging Walsh as the nominee. Walsh ultimately secured the seat, with no Democratic opponent.
In the Nov. 5 general election that year, a flurry of post-election provisional ballot challenges were also filed with the county Election Board in the U.S. Senate race between Robert P. Casey Jr. and Dave McCormick, with McCormick in the lead.
Because it was a statewide race, the unofficial results also triggered a legally required statewide recount necessary when totals are within a one-half of 1% margin. The Secretary of the Commonwealth must order an automatic recount for any statewide races with a winning margin of 0.5% or less.
The state later halted the recount when Casey conceded on Nov. 21, or a little over two weeks after the general election.
The official tally was 3,399,295 for McCormick and 3,384,180 for Casey.
Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt referenced the potential need for more time in a release last week.
“If a race is close, it may take more time to determine who the winner is as provisional ballots and military and overseas civilian absentee ballots are counted after Election Day. So, I ask everyone to be patient as the process unfolds,” Schmidt said in the release.
“I want to remind everyone that carefully counting ballots takes time, and county elections officials rightly prioritize accuracy over speed,” Schmidt also said.
Unofficial results from the state’s 67 counties will be posted on the state’s electionreturns.pa.gov site as they become available after the polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Provisional ballots
Provisional ballots and mail ballots flagged for possible deficiencies are not processed until the county Election Board’s adjudication, which begins the Friday after the election and typically continues for several days.
Because paper provisional ballots have been a large focus of past challenges in tight races, county Election Director Emily Cook emphasized voters must follow instructions, especially the signature requirements.
The outer envelope must be signed twice by the voter both upon receipt and final submission, she said. A polling place official must also sign the envelope.
Here are instructions from the Pennsylvania Department of State:
• Complete the sections on the provisional envelope labeled voter information, voter affidavit for provisional ballot, and current address in front of the polling place officials.
• Make ballot selections in a private area of the polling place.
• Seal the ballot in a secrecy envelope and place that envelope inside the affidavit envelope.
• Fill out the voter signature section on the envelope in front of polling place election officials before turning it in to them.
• Upon final submission, the voter must receive a provisional ballot identification receipt. The identification number on this receipt can be used later to learn if the ballot was counted through the tracker at pavoterservices.pa.gov or by calling 1-877-VOTESPA.
Voters are provided provisional ballots when workers determine additional voter verification is needed.
“Provisional ballots are only issued to voters when the office needs a second look to ensure they are eligible to vote,” Cook said. “This just gives an extra layer of security to ensure the only people casting votes are those eligible to cast a vote.”
For example, provisional ballots are required when a mail ballot was issued to a voter, and the voter did not bring the mail ballot and outer envelope to the polling place to be voided. The county must verify no mail ballot was cast by that voter before a provisional can be accepted.
Sometimes provisional voting is required because a voter’s name is not in the poll book, possibly because the voter is in the wrong precinct.
“All that means is something with the registration requires more involved research than what is available in a poll book,” Cook said.
Adjudication
The election board’s public adjudication starts at 9 a.m. Friday in the election bureau’s second floor hearing room in the Penn Place Building, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., in Wilkes-Barre.
Issues with provisional and mail ballots are discussed by category, with input from a county solicitor and comments from party representatives presented before the board votes on whether to accept or reject ballots.
Three county election workers were appointed as the canvassing board members to perform the initial review and processing of ballots presented to the board: Cook, Election Deputy Director Steve Hahn, and Election Deputy Chief Clerk Amanda Latoski-Hon.
The volunteer election board members: Chairwoman Christine Boyle, Vice Chairman Rick Morelli, Albert Schlosser, Audrey Serniak, and Roxanne Arreguin.