Why it's unlikely Pennsylvania will be called Election Night

A look at why it could take days to know the final result of the presidential election. 

In some states, the counting of mail-in ballots doesn't begin until Election Day. That's the case in battleground Pennsylvania, where Laura Jarrett spoke with Secretary of State Al Schmidt

"Say you were sitting down with a family member or a friend and they said to you, Al, why is it that election night now seems like it's election week or election month?"

Al Schmidt

Well, elections have changed a lot in Pennsylvania in the last several years, and now voters have the ability to vote by mail, like many other states do. red states, blue states, all have that ability. One difference with Pennsylvania is the process for counting those ballots can't begin until election morning, unlike other states that can begin at days, if not weeks, in advance, so they have changed a lot, but when you have half of your voters voting by mail, or a third of your voters voting by mail. It takes time to count millions of votes.

Because Republicans made a dumb law that Pennsylvania can’t start counting absentee ballots until election night so Trump can declare victory before Philadelphia and Pittsburgh votes are counted https://t.co/3XmlBSB6RS

— Dhaaruni ✨✨✨ (@dhaaruni) August 27, 2024

Zero chance the election is called before midnight tonight, right? Even in a best-case scenario for either candidate, I don’t see 270 by midnight eastern

PA/WI/AZ/NV the major sticking points for counting https://t.co/9PuNJr4PoX pic.twitter.com/GHm2vI87ru

— It’s Fall :-) (@BizzlePep) November 5, 2024