Pennsylvania’s ballot counting was under a microscope this week, with 19 electoral votes at stake—votes that tipped the balance of the presidential election not only this year, but in 2016 and 2020 when the state was called for Biden after nearly four days. We sent Lisa Fletcher to the Keystone state to find out if 4 years helped fix the problem.. And helped restore voter confidence.
The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.
We were there when the counting was underway at this secure warehouse in northeast Philadelphia to find out how the process has changed since 2020, when delays painfully held up election results in Pennsylvania for nearly four days.
Late in the evening, Omar Sabir, Democrat and Chairman of the bipartisan Philadelphia City Commissioners, that oversees voter registration and elections, addressed the media.
Omar Sabir: Every block, every voice from Philadelphia was heard today.
Two hours after the polls closed, with all hands on deck at the warehouse, Republican Commissioner Seth Bluestein reported that everything was on track.
Lisa Fletcher: It’s almost 10 o’clock at night, and the counting seems to be chugging along. How would you rate things today on a 1-10 scale?
Seth Bluestein: Today went really great. I mean, it was smooth. It was a 10 in Philadelphia.
Lisa Fletcher: How does this compare to 2020?
Seth Bluestein: Besides being in a pandemic environment and civil unrest, we just had so many more mail ballots that had to get counted in 2020.
After the lag in final results in 2020, leading to Joe Biden’s come-from-behind victory over Donald Trump, Pennsylvania and other states reworked their system.
Four years ago, mail-in ballots made up a large portion of the vote. Pennsylvania and Nevada both took nearly four days before the winner was called.
Wolf Blitzer: “After four long, tense days, we’ve reached a historic moment in this election. We can now project the winner of the presidential race. CNN projects Joseph R. Biden Jr. is elected the 46th President of the United States.”
In Georgia and North Carolina, it stretched more than five days. At least 14 states, plus the District of Columbia, declared the day after the election.
Delays in 2020 created uncertainty, but for those on the inside of the process, Bluestein says the idea that slow returns were somehow suspicious is unlikely.
Seth Bluestein: It’s not just that we have 50 different states with different election laws; elections are really managed at the county level. So, we might have 10,000 different jurisdictions across the country managing elections in different ways. I mean, if you think about it, how many people would it take to steal elections across multiple states, and for there to be no evidence or any of that getting out or leaking? It just doesn’t make any sense.
This time, four years later, it was much different.
Bret Baier: “Former President Donald J. Trump will win the state of Pennsylvania, and thereby, he is on his way to becoming the 47th president of the United States.”
Earlier in the week, as the sun rose on a new day, a new president had been elected. Philadelphia election board workers were still counting ballots, but the hum of the warehouse dwindled. Even the weekly public meeting, where Philadelphians can share their thoughts about anything, went by without any protests or complaints.
Seth Bluestein: It’s not a partisan issue. Ultimately, we want to make sure that every American has faith in the election system.
While they’re still counting, reviewing, and verifying, they were able to release enough results so quickly this time that the state could be called for Trump within hours of the polls closing, instead of waiting four long days.
Watch video here.
