Pennsylvania’s acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman disclosed Monday that there will likely be delays in posting the results from the state’s midterm election.
Chapman described in an online press conference just how the state would contend with vote checking in the upcoming election, and claimed that it would likely take a number of days to count as well as certify the votes, according to Lehigh Valley News.
“It’s really important for us to get accurate information about the election process in Pennsylvania,” Chapman told reporters.
“So voters and the public know that when there are delays in counting, it doesn’t mean that there’s anything nefarious happening. It’s just what the law is in Pennsylvania.”
Chapman claimed that the potential for delays is because poll workers do not have the ability to pre-canvas or count mail-in ballots prior to the actual day of the election.
In feedback to comments that voters must hold onto their mail-in ballots and also turn them in to their regional board of political election on election day, Chapman prompted voters not to postpone in sending them in.
“We have heard that there’s messaging out there in Pennsylvania, as far as instructing voters to hold onto their mail-in ballots,” she said. “As part of our voter education campaign, we encourage voters to request that mail-in ballot now and return it as soon as possible. We don’t want voters to delay.”
Without specifying the actual incident, Chapman told the press that there were reports of threats aimed at the midterm voting process throughout Pennsylvania.
“Since I’ve been in office in January, we have constantly met with the FBI and Homeland Security just to talk through what the current threat landscape is and tools that we can give our counties to make sure that they have physical security protection as well as cyber security protection,” she said.
“So it’s been great to partner with both the federal and state law enforcement organizations. We are in constant communication with them and it’s a situation that we are monitoring,” Chapman added.
Two midterm races being closely viewed in the state are the race for governor, with Republican Doug Mastriano as well as Democrat Josh Shapiro vying for the governor’s seat, and also the high-profile race for US Senate, with Democrat John Fetterman running against the Trump-endorsed Republican Mehmet Oz.
