As the November election approaches, the Pennsylvania Department of State has warned residents that the results of U.S. elections may not always be announced “on election night.”
In a recent post on X, formerly Twitter, the Pennsylvania Department of State said, “Pennsylvanians won’t always know the final results of all races on election night. Any changes in results that occur as countries continue to count ballots are not evidence that an election is ‘rigged.'”
The Pennsylvania Department of State’s social media post also featured a link to a government website that provides fact-checking for Pennsylvania’s “election claims.”
The website states, “While we would all like to go to bed on election night knowing who won in every race, determining unofficial results is a days-long process because county elections officials must follow the careful, deliberative process and timeline prescribed by Pennsylvania’s Election Code to achieve a thorough count of every eligible vote.”
The fact-checking election claims page notes that an accurate vote count is “paramount to our democracy and cannot be rushed.” As a result, the website states that election workers need to be given a “reasonable amount of time” to process votes in U.S. elections.
The website adds, “While news media ‘call’ races on election night when there appears to be a wide and seemingly insurmountable margin between candidates, it’s important to note that they are basing their calls on unofficial results. In close races, every vote must be counted before the outcome can be known.”
According to The Post Millennial, Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes could play a pivotal role in the 2024 presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris due to the state’s status as a swing state. Rachel Orey, a Bipartisan Policy Center elections expert, warned, “If the electoral college comes down to Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, we might still face a long period where we don’t know the winner.”
In response to Pennsylvania’s warning that residents might not have the final results of the election on election night, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) tweeted, “Florida elections have millions more votes cast than in PA elections, yet we count the votes and report the results on election night — and do so in an efficient and transparent manner. There is no reason why this cannot be done in every state in America.”
