When should Pennsylvania expect election results?
PHILADELPHIA - Tuesday is Election Day, and while vote results will start pouring in after polls close, it might be a few days or weeks before we have the full picture, at least in Pennsylvania.
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How Pennsylvania counts votes
Local perspective:
Counties in most states across the country will already be counting votes before polls even open on Election Day.
In Pennsylvania, however, election officials have to wait. Pennsylvania is one of just six states in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, that doesn't allow the counting of absentee ballots before Election Day.
County officials began their count at 7 a.m. on Election Day, with a big job ahead of them. State data as of 4 p.m. on Nov. 3 shows that more than 1.1 million absentee ballots have been returned.
Even though some vote totals will be in early on Tuesday, no results will be posted until after polls close at 8 p.m.
Pennsylvania vote counting deadlines
Timeline:
Once polls close, there are several key deadlines in the vote counting process.
First, each county has until 5 p.m. on Nov. 10 to submit all their returns to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Then, the counties have until Nov. 17 to count all their votes, so they can certify the results by Nov. 23.
Once that happens, the Secretary of the Commonwealth will certify the statewide results.
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The 2024 election in Pennsylvania
The backstory:
For context, the state of Pennsylvania certified the results of the 2024 presidential election on Dec. 4, 2024, 29 days after Election Day.
The Source: This story includes information on Pennsylvania election laws and policies from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania website, the Pennsylvania Department of State's 2026 General Election Calendar, absentee vote counting policies nationwide from the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the state's Daily Mail Ballot Report from Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m.