What we will (and won’t) know on election night in Pennsylvania for the 2022 midterms
You may have chosen to vote by mail ballot or go to the polls on Election Day, but in Pennsylvania your ballot is tallied and certified the same way.
So when and how is it counted exactly?
Polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time Tuesday, Nov. 8. If you are in line when polls close, you will be allowed to vote.
Here’s what we will and won’t know about the results on election night, including how Pennsylvania counts ballots and when we can expect official results.
First though, here are some key terms to know.
Tabulate: To count, record or list systematically.
Processing ballots: Varies from state to state, but typically involves verifying the voter’s signature with the one on record. Pennsylvania is one of nine states (and Washington D.C.) that allows election officials to begin processing absentee/mail-in ballots on Election Day. Some 38 other states (and the Virgin Islands) allow that to take place before Election Day, while a handful such as Maryland don’t permit absentee/mail-in processing until after Election Day.
Vote counting: The initial counting of ballots that starts before Election Day in some states — not Pennsylvania — and continues on election night in all states. This includes counting all types of ballots.
Canvass: The canvass is a culmination of all the data generated during an election cycle. It is a process that allows election officials to confirm the accuracy of election data and identify areas for improvement. The canvass process aggregates and confirms every valid ballot cast and counted, including mail, uniformed and overseas citizen, early voting, Election Day and provisional ballots.
Certification: Refers to the process of election officials attesting that the tabulation and canvassing of the election are complete and accurate and the election results are a true and accurate accounting of all votes in a particular election.
What will we know on election night in Pennsylvania?
The results you see on election night are early, unofficial results.
The official outcome of an election is never decided on Election Day. These early results could give us a sense of the winning candidates in certain races — provided they are not closely contested. Keep in mind: Some absentee ballots, like those received from military and overseas civilian voters, could be counted up to eight days after Election Day.
What we won’t know on election night in Pennsylvania
We won’t have the official election results.
In fact, we may not have unofficial election results in some races for a few days. Because of the time is takes to count more than 1.3 million mail ballots — and because current election law does not permit counties to begin pre-canvassing the ballots until 7 a.m. Election Day — Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman has stressed that it’s likely we won’t know who won every race on Tuesday night.
For official results, we’ll have to wait even longer for the vote count to be certified, which has a Nov. 28 deadline. Legal challenges are possible.
How does Pennsylvania count ballots?
Under Pennsylvania law, counties could not begin pre-canvassing mail-in ballots — meaning removing them from their envelopes to prepare for scanning — until 7 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8.
In Centre County, several live streams show the pre-canvassing room, and each political party and candidate is permitted to have one watcher observing the process.
At 8:01 p.m. Tuesday, teams of county officials will begin tabulating all eligible votes. And, by 12:01 a.m. Nov. 9, counties that received Act 88 funds must post the unofficial number of absentee ballots and mail-in ballots received. (More than 1.4 million Pennsylvanians requested to vote by mail.)
By 9 a.m. Nov. 11, each county’s board of elections must begin the official canvass and compute returns of votes cast. And by 5 p.m. Nov. 15, each county board must submit unofficial returns to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Counties must provide their certified results to the Secretary of the Commonwealth for official certification by Nov. 28.
When does the CDT ‘call’ a race?
Like many newspapers, the CDT relies on The Associated Press to call races at the state and national level.
As The AP puts it when describing its race-calling methodology: “All of this reporting and analysis is aimed at determining the answer to a single question: Can the trailing candidates catch the leader? Only when the answer is an unquestionable ‘no’ is the race ready to be called.”
Can I check on my mail-in/absentee ballot in Pennsylvania?
Yes. You can check on the status of your ballot at pavoterservices.pa.gov. (You cannot track the status of a ballot voted in person on Election Day, however.) Alternatively, you can also contact the county elections office — Centre County’s can be reached at 814-355-6703 and elections@centrecountypa.gov — or call the Department of State’s year-round voter hotline at 1-877-VOTESPA.
Reporter Aaron Mudd contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 1:43 PM.
