Centre County board of elections votes unanimously to certify election results
After weeks of counting and a series of court filings, the 2020 election season has ended in Centre County.
“Do you want to cry?” County Administrator Margaret Gray asked before the board of elections unanimously certified results Monday.
“No, we did that during the election,” Voter Registration Coordinator Latisha Stefanko joked.
Though some Pennsylvania counties are still working to finish counting ballots cast in the Nov. 3 election, Centre County wrapped up processing last week. Certified computations are to be submitted to the Department of State by 5 p.m. Monday, but late certifications will not affect final state certification.
More Centre County voters cast their ballots in the general election — 78,094 — than ever before in county history, edging out 2016’s historic voter turnout, 77,700. The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket outpaced President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence by 3,683 votes — 40,055 to 36,372.
Biden won in Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes, and attempts made by the Trump campaign to block ballot certification have failed in court.
“It looks like we, perhaps, survived the 2020 election cycle,” Commissioner Steve Dershem said, adding that he hopes the next cycle will “a bit easier.”
Once all results are certified by the Department of State and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania’s 20 electors will convene to cast their votes as part of the Electoral College on Dec. 14.
Though state Republicans have expressed concern about “irregularities” in the election, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, doubled-down on the legislature’s role in the electoral process.
“Pennsylvania Election Code says the vote is to be certified by the secretary of state to the governor who appoints electors,” he said in a statement Monday. “The legislature decided in 1937 to distribute electors that way per the Constitution. Again, despite other media reports, the Pennsylvania legislature has no role in this process.”
