LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — After two days of counting, the Lancaster County Board of Elections finished up counting all mail-in ballots for the primaries.
Despite expecting to finish on Friday, volunteers rallied to remark all ballots sooner than anticipated.
“We were really thinking that tomorrow would be the day that we were done," said Lancaster County Election Director Christa Miller. "There is a sense of, 'okay I can breathe a little bit this afternoon!'”
With the mail-in ballots scanned, Miller says the county is now preparing for a potential re-count to determine the Republican nominee for the US Senate race.
“We’re also starting to figure out logistics for that and getting everything set up and making sure everything is done so that we’re ready for that.”
Muhlenburg College Political Science professor Chris Borick says tight primary races highlight the pressures and challenges faced by election officials and volunteers.
“When it’s in a public eye, when there’s high stakes on the line, when there’s a nationally focused on election, it’s of course going to face more public scrutiny than a lot of things," said Borick.
Borick says the hyper-partisan nature of our politics could make some voters lose confidence when mistakes are made by election officials.
“It allows the public to see problems that they might conflate with more malicious types of activities, rather than simple errors or challenges in administering an election," explained Borick.
He argues that politicians at the local and state level should come together to allow for pre-canvassing of mail-in ballots prior to Election Day.
“If we want results quicker, it will expedient the process," argued Borick. "I don’t see, other than living in this hyper partisan moment, why it’s become such a partisan issue.”