FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. — The Franklin County Board of Elections issued a press release Thursday thanking "all those involved with our county's successful election."
Of the 100,974 registered voters in the county, 80,066 ballots were cast in the 2020 election -- a record-breaking turnout rate of 79.3 percent, the board said.
(Those numbers exclude ballots received after Tuesday but postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by 5 p.m. on Friday, along with military absentee ballots and provisional ballots, which will be counted at a later date, the board said.)
In 2016, a total of 70,985 ballots were cast by the county's 93,018 registered voters -- a turnout rate of 76.31 percent, the board said.
“We are grateful for our county’s dedicated poll workers, 400+ polling place volunteers, County staff, and especially our voters who turned out in record numbers," said Dave Keller, chairman of the Franklin County Election Board. "Accuracy is our priority. We thank everyone for their understanding as we work through our election process to ensure that every vote is counted."
Franklin County followed a previously published timeline and began pre-canvassing (preparation of the ballots) on Tuesday morning, using volunteers from various County departments to open the envelopes and prepare the ballots for counting, the board said.
The pre-canvass was completed around noon on Wednesday.
The official canvass (counting of the ballots) began at 8:30 am on Wednesday morning and was completed by the end of the day, the board said.
The County ran 20,624 absentee and mail-in ballots through a high speed central scanner and added these results to the 59,442 ballots cast in-person at the polls.
Authorized representatives from local Republican and Democrat parties were present for the entire pre-canvass and canvass, according to the board.
Results for the 2020 Election, including the summary and precinct reports, may be viewed on the County’s website.
Results showing the grand totals broken down by in-person voting, mail-in ballot results and provisional ballot results may be viewed here:
On Friday, the County Election Board will be counting the mail-in and absentee ballots received after Election Day but postmarked by November 3rd and received prior to 5:00 pm on Friday.
The Election Board will also be processing the 3,287 write-ins received on Tuesday -- including ones for “Mud puddle”, “Pickle” and “Pudgy (My dog).”
On Tuesday, November 10, the County Election Board will be counting military absentee ballots as well as hundreds of provisional ballots.
The board said it anticipates that all votes to be counted by close of business on Nov. 10.
