Provisional ballot count underway in Pa., Boockvar says

In a statement Friday afternoon, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said that the majority of the state’s mail-in and absentee ballots had been counted, adding that election officials have begun counting provisional ballots.

“Pennsylvania counties have been incredibly hard at work canvassing all the ballots to provide accurate results as quickly as possible following best practices and responsibilities pursuant to state and federal law,” Secretary Boockvar said. “We are very thankful to all the election officials working extremely long hours to make our democracy work and ensure that every qualified voter’s vote is counted safely and securely.”

Provisional ballots must be adjudicated within seven days of the election to determine if they can be counted, according to state law. That process is done by verifying that the “voter is registered in the precinct in which the ballot was cast, and that the voter did not cast a mail-in ballot prior to requesting a provisional ballot at the polling place.”

The Department of State said it will conduct a statewide risk-limiting audit to confirm the outcome of the election. The department noted that this was done after the June primary, as well.