UPDATE 6:05 p.m.: Channel 11 reached out to Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs after President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani was on Fox News Sunday, claiming there was voting fraud in Allegheny County and Philadelphia.

Here was her response:

"The county’s Elections process has been transparent and open. This includes all of our processes from pre-canvassing, to canvassing to the operations of the Return Board.

Beginning on Tuesday morning at 7 AM, any person with an authorized representative or watcher’s certificate from a candidate or party on the ballot in Allegheny County has been granted access to view the proceedings. No party or candidate was treated differently and representatives from the Democratic, Libertarian and Republican party were all part of these proceedings.

All individuals were free to move back and forth between rooms and observer areas, were frequently provided status updates, and staff were available for questions from those individuals. At no time were canvassing operations conducted without observers having the opportunity to see the process and the counting."

UPDATE 4 a.m.(11/8): The Associated Press, among several other sources, first called Pennsylvania for Joe Biden. Here is why it did.

The AP called the race for Biden, who held a 34,243-vote lead, after it determined that the remaining ballots left to be counted would not allow Trump to catch up. The news agency has already declared Biden the winner in both Michigan and Wisconsin.

READ MORE ABOUT ITS DECISION HERE.

Saturday updates:

UPDATE 11 p.m.: President-elect and vice president-elect both gave speeches Saturday night from a stage in Delaware, talking about healing the country and bringing the people together.

>>>MORE DETAILS: Here is the text of Joe Biden’s speech Saturday night

Locally, Republican leaders said they will keep fighting and will keep counting ballots.

“The reaction is we’re very concerned about the integrity of the Electoral College. When this business started about counting ballots and collecting them and changing the rules with regard to signatures, I’m afraid we had the attitude for about 23 weeks that in order for Trump to win, he had to win by a landslide. Because if it came in close, we would get into exactly what we’ve gotten into today,” said Butler County Repoublican chairman Al Lindsay.

UPDATE 6 p.m.: With multiple media outlets reporting former Vice President Joe Biden as the election winner, he’s scheduled to speak tonight around 8 p.m.

[ MORE DETAILS AHEAD OF JOE BIDEN'S SPEECH ]

When the news hit places like Harrisburg, Biden supports said they felt peace and calm.

“We needed some sanity restored to our democracy,” Robby Robinson said.

Others, however, spoke directly to President Trump.

“Keep fighting. We’re here, we’ve got you,” Rich Shade said.

Locally, hundreds took to the streets in places like the South Side and Squirrel Hill once the news broke. A large crowd marched to the City-County Building, causing rolling road closures and disrupting public transit.

Many also expressed happiness over the potential election of Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian woman to potentially hold the office.

UPDATE 3:58 p.m.: Pennsylvania GOP Congressional members have issued a letter to Gov. Wolf, Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar:

"Dear Governor Wolf, Attorney General Shapiro, and Secretary Boockvar:

As Members of the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation, we greatly understand that when a legislative body creates law, the duty of an administration is to faithfully execute these laws. However, we are deeply concerned with how the Commonwealth has handled the general election.

From last minute guidance provided to the counties on the eve of the election, to the Attorney General playing dual roles as a political candidate and legal arbiter with a vested personal interest, to volunteer legal observers being prevented from having access to vote counting locations, we believe these conflicts and irregularities have greatly eroded public trust in the Commonwealth’s electoral system.

The citizens of the Commonwealth do not just expect free and fair elections, they deserve free and fair elections.

We believe that every legal vote should be counted, and it is compulsory for the Secretary of the Commonwealth to discount any votes that do not meet the letter of the law. On Friday, November 6, United States Supreme Court Justice Alito issued a temporary order requiring election officials to segregate ballots received after 8 p.m. on election day. While Secretary Boockvar has indicated this has already been occurring in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, there has been little evidence to support these statements.

This uncertainty follows guidance issued to the counties on the eve of the election instructing them to disclose to party operatives individual information associated with rejected mail-in ballots, in an attempt to have corrections made, which is in direct conflict with Pennsylvania election law. We believe that in order to faithfully execute the duties of the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth it is incumbent upon Secretary Boockvar to follow the law.

Statements made by Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, including social media posts calling the outcome of the election, prior to the tabulation of a single vote are troubling and highlight the Attorney General’s inability to maintain impartiality and to separate his sworn duties from his political desires. We believe that due to this conflict, the Attorney General must recuse himself from all future election proceedings and appoint an impartial designee moving forward.

As many of these issues will now be addressed by the United States Supreme Court, we remain concerned about the integrity of the election and continued attempts by the administration and its officials to put their thumbs on the scale in pursuit of what they believe should be a preordained outcome. These actions continue to chip away at the foundation of our representational democracy and challenges the citizens of Pennsylvania’s faith in their government. We implore you to put politics aside and provide these requests all due consideration."

UPDATE 3:40 p.m.: Representative Mike Kelly has issued a statement following the news of media outlets declaring the election in favor of Joe Biden.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.: Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf congratulated Joe Biden on his presidential win on Twitter, saying, “Pennsylvania is proud to send a native son to the White House who’s never forgotten his Scranton roots.”

UPDATE 2:40 p.m.: Allegheny County officials say the processing and counting of ballots was suspended while the Elections Division does some additional administrative work and research related to the final batch of ballots from the group of the correct/incorrect ballots. The Return Board and canvassing is expected to begin again on Monday to allow time for the Division staff to do that work. There will be no further ballots counted, or results reported until that date.

UPDATE 2:15 p.m.: Channel 11′s Amy Hudak is at the state capitol in Harrisburg.

UPDATE 2:05 p.m.: Joe Biden issued a statement on his Facebook page thanking all those who voted for him and saying the work ahead may be hard, but he will keep the faith. Click here to see the video.

UPDATE 2 p.m.: Legislators and union officials across the commonwealth reacted Saturday to the news that by securing Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, Joe Biden became the President-elect. Read those statements here.

UPDATE 12:15 p.m.: Another 7,253 votes have been added to Allegheny County, bringing the number of votes cast county-wide to 702,315.

UPDATE 12 p.m.: Rep. Conor Lamb held off challenger Sean Parnell in one of Pa.'s most highly contested races.

UPDATE 11:45 a.m.: NBC has declared Pennsylvania to former Vice President Joe Biden, giving him the needed Electoral College votes to beat out President Donald Trump to win the presidency.

President Trump released the following statement:

"We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.

"Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access.

“So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”

UPDATE 11:10 a.m.: Allegheny County officials are expected to give a report of the results of the mail-in ballot returns sometime between 11 a.m. and noon Saturday morning.

The Return Board resumed counting the ballots at 9 a.m. and are continuing to process the batch of ballots sent to voters that had to be reissued.

Last night, the ballots from voters who returned both an incorrect and correct ballot were reviewed, processed, scanned and reported out. This morning, the ballots from voters who returned just the correct ballot are being reviewed and processed.

UPDATE 9:15 a.m.: Officials in Allegheny County have again begun the process of counting mail-in ballots Saturday morning.

UPDATE 1 a.m. (11/7): The vast majority of mail-in ballots (96.6%) in Pennsylvania have been tallied. The margins in the presidential race in Pa. are razor-thin, with former VP Joe Biden leading President Trump by about 29,000 votes.

But there are still 90,000 mail-in ballots that need to be counted -- 20,000 of those in historically blue Philadelphia County and 30,000 in Allegheny County.

There are also up to 100,000 provisional ballots that still need to be thoroughly investigated and then counted.

Pa. secretary of state Kathy Boockvar, told reporters we are nearing the finish line and that the integrity of the election is ironclad.

“The strength and integrity of this vote is really unparalleled. Same as when you vote in person. You have to be registered, you go in, sign in the poll book. All these things are tracked. Our voting system and databases make sure no voter can cast more than one vote. It literally has a hard stop should anyone try,” she said.

UPDATE 11 p.m.: Shortly before 11 p.m., former Vice President Joe Biden gave an update on the campaign.

“The numbers tell a clear and convincing story. We’re going to win,” Biden said during his speech.

The results in Pennsylvania are still close to call a clear winner. Biden, however, is in the lead as of Friday night

Locally, the work will stretch well into the weekend with elections workers still counting thousands of ballots.

“Some of these folks have been working on alphabetizing and marrying these ballots since 9 a.m. this morning. We’re just now getting to the point where it’s decided which is counted and which is not,” said Allegheny Co. Elections Director David Voye.

“The problem now is with all of these ballots. It’s one at a time as opposed to the high speed when we did the 300,000 in a few hours. They’re working through it and doing everything and the monitors are overseeing it. We’re getting there,” said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

At the state level, the vast majority of mail-in ballots have been tallied. There are still about 100,000 mail-in ballots that still need to be counted along with about 100,000 provisional ballots that need investigated.

10:50 p.m.: Here are the final numbers from Allegheny County so far.

10:34 p.m.: Workers are finishing up their last batch for the night.

UPDATE 10:25 p.m.: Allegheny County officials are done counting for the night.

UPDATE 9:46 p.m.: New numbers were released by Allegheny County. Out of 9,288 ballots counted, Biden had 7,300 and Trump 1,875. The overall number of votes cast in the county so far was 691,850.

UPDATE 8:13 p.m.: The U.S. Supreme Court has issued an order to Pennsylvania to segregate all ballots received after 8 p.m. on Nov. 3rd. The order, however, does not tell state officials to stop counting them.

UPDATE 7:50 p.m.: MSNBC reports President Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt counting votes in Pennsylvania. Justice Alito has denied the request and is referring the case to the entire court.

UPDATE 7:30 p.m.: Allegheny County officials will go through ballots where a voter returned both a correct and incorrect ballot. If the correct ballot is sufficient, it will move forward for processing. If not, it and the incorrect ballot will be forwarded to the Return Board for processing. If only a correct ballot was returned, it will move forward for processing. If only an incorrect ballot was returned, it will be forwarded to the Return Board for processing.

UPDATE 7:17 p.m.: A little more than 5,300 military and overseas ballots were counted Friday along with ballots that were damaged.

Additionally, the latest numbers from Allegheny County:

• Biden: 400,817 (58.7%)
• Trump: 269,527 (39.4%)

Of the 318,000 mail-in ballots counted so far, nearly 80% were for Biden.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m.: Voters in Butler County said they’re mostly tired of constantly hearing about the election without a clear winner four days after Election Day.

“I work at the store up the road and all day that’s all you hear. Everybody’s like ‘Did it go?’ We’re like ‘Nope, it didn’t go yet, don’t know who it is yet.’,” Jen Painter said.

“I’m very tired of all of it. I’m glad it will be over very soon to be honest with you,” Greg Yaksich said.

“I think we’re just tired of both sides. Who can we trust? The numbers come out one minute then a half hour later they’re different. It’s just aggravating. I think that as long as we have some separation, that it’s not full control all the way across, we’re going to be fine,” Tim Gwin said.

The voters Channel 11 talked with said they were excited to vote, but as the election has lingered on into the weekend, they’re growing tired of it.

In Allegheny County, officials said they expect to finish overseas and mail-in ballots Friday evening. There are still 29,000 mail-in ballots that need counted.

UPDATE 5:17 p.m.: Rep. Bob Brooks (R-Allegheny/Westmoreland) sent Channel 11 a statement Friday:

“Our electoral process must be protected to ensure that every vote legally cast is counted. Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot system is plagued with problems. Allegheny County disqualified 22 ballots because those people were declared deceased. I am pleased with how our Westmoreland and Allegheny county poll workers handled this very difficult process.

Today, Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf requesting a full audit be completed before the certification of any results. In the letter Cutler cites actions taken by the state Supreme Court and the Department of State that have created confusion for county election officials, and actions believed to be in violation of the federal Constitution.

"There were an unprecedented number of provisional ballots in this year’s election. My office has been inundated with constituents frustrated with how our state has handled the process as the counting of ballots is continuing, especially in Philadelphia. My House Republican colleagues and I are investigating their practices.

"In-person voters were turned away and told they had to use the mail-in system. Let’s face it, mail-in ballots are less secure. The focus of this election was on the mail-in ballots; however, millions was spent on voting machines and security to enhance the safest election possible.

"I am happy to report that all House Republican incumbents in the southwest region of the state are leading in their respective races. Also, three new Republican House legislators in the region and two new Senate Republicans are leading in their races.

“The Commonwealth’s Democratic Supreme Court has exterminated the integrity of our election with its ruling to allow mail-in ballots to be counted up to three days after election day. Pennsylvanians from every political party should have the full confidence that the final vote tally reflects the will of the voters. I will do everything in my power to continue to fight for a fair vote count in Pennsylvania where every legal ballot is counted in a transparent manner.”

UPDATE 4:45 p.m.: Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said there are still over 100,000 mail-in ballots that need to be counted in Pennsylvania.

“The counties are continuing to count. The final results are not certified until 20 days out. What’s happening now is having enough ballots counted to tell who the winner is. The father apart, the easier to tell,” she said.

The majority of the ballots have been counted and the process of counting provisional ballots has started. Under state law, county boards of election must individually adjudicate each provisional ballot and assess within seven days of an election whether they meet the standards for counting. The counties will do so by verifying the voter was registered to vote in the precinct in which the ballot was cast, and that the voter did not cast a mail-in ballot prior to requesting the provisional ballot at the polling place.

UPDATE 4:25 p.m.: Workers will start processing the 29,000 ballots where were initially sent out incorrectly in October over the next few hours in Allegheny County. Workers spent the day examining around 6,500 mail-in ballots that put aside during the initial canvassing.

UPDATE 4:07 p.m.: Heather Heidelbaugh, who was running for Pennsylvania Attorney General against Josh Shapiro, issued a statement in lieu of the Associated Press reporting Shapiro won.

UPDATE 2:56 p.m.: A state court judge has dismissed the request from Republicans to stop the counting of provisional ballots. So, they will be counted, and they will be segregated from other ballots.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: Here are the latest vote totals in Pennsylvania by 2:15 p.m. Friday:

President/Pennsylvania

• Joe Biden: 3,311,673 50%
• Donald Trump: 3,298,011 49%
• Jo Jorgenson: 76,698 1%

That is a difference of 13,662 votes.

The Pennsylvania GOP has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency order that no late-arriving ballots are added to state totals. Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said they are currently not being factored in.

UPDATE 2:37 p.m.: The Associated Press has called the race for Pennsylvania Attorney General. Josh Shapiro has been announced as the winner, per the Associated Press, over Republican challenger Heather Heidelbaugh.

UPDATE 2:20 p.m.: Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kennedy said during a news conference Friday that President Trump needs to “put his big boy pants on.”

UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: A state court has ordered provisional ballots cast at the polls on Election Day in Pennsylvania by voters who submitted mail-in ballots that were rejected be segregated.

Also, President Trump has issued a statement:

“We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process. From the beginning we have said that all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we have met resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every turn. We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation.”

UPDATE 2:00 p.m.: Pam Iovino has conceded in the race for state Senate District 37 to challenger Devlin Robinson.

UPDATE 1:50 p.m.: Allegheny County officials about 800 ballots were received on Wednesday and Thursday that were postmarked by Election Day. The county expects the number of provisional ballots to grow. Military ballots have until Nov. 10 to arrive.

UPDATE 1:30 p.m.: In a sweep of Pittsburgh facilities, the U.S. Postal Service found 297 ballots. The sweep was court ordered to take place across several states that set extended deadlines past Election Day to take in and record ballots.

The ballots were hand delivered to the Board of Elections, according to a federal court filing.

>>>MORE DETAILS: Court-ordered sweep of Pittsburgh postal service facilities turns up nearly 300 ballots

UPDATE 12:55 p.m.: An Allegheny County spokesperson released the following update as the Return Board goes through ballots:

"The Return Board has made the decision to not break for lunch and will instead work through until 4:30 PM.

"The total votes cast in the county are 677,172 and reflects the six precincts that were not reported until yesterday. They are in-person votes.

"Yesterday’s mail included 370 total pieces. Of those, 358 meet the criteria set forth by the Court.

"To date, the county has received 3,873 overseas and military ballots. Those will continue to come into the office as the deadline is one week from Election Day, or next Tuesday.

“Additionally, while there is not an exact number at this time, the Elections Division estimates that there are 17,000 provisional ballots and expect that number will grow.”

UPDATE 12:30 p.m.: A group of demonstrators demanded officials count all legal votes Friday.

Gathering across from the Allegheny County Elections Warehouse where mail-in ballots are being counted Friday, the group called for an overhaul of the process.

Some of their signs read “Count legal votes,” “Stop the county” and “Sorry polls are closed.”

Organizers raised questions over the mail-in ballot process and claimed ballots and numbers were falsified.

The federal government is currently raising a red flag, warning people to not fall for wrong information about the election process.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency stressed the numbers are changing so much because mail-in ballots are still being counted.

Demonstrators said they plan to rally throughout the course of this day.

UPDATE 12:15 p.m.: About 80 workers for the Return Board were sworn in by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald Friday morning and have since been going through ballots.

There are about 35,000 ballots that need to be looked at manually because of issues.

The first ones they’re going through are ones that wouldn’t scan. Then, there are ballots that need to be reviewed because they were missing a signature, the outer envelope or the secrecy envelope wasn’t included -- known as a naked ballot.

Later in the day, the board’s attention will turn to ballots that were initially sent out incorrectly by a third-party company out of Ohio. There’s about 29,000 of those.

A lawsuit by two Republican Congressional candidates says these ballots can’t be touched until 5 p.m., which is the deadline for the state to receive mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day.

Campaign representatives are intently watching what’s going on with the ballots.

The county received about 500 ballots in the mail the day after the election. Another 370 came in Thursday. More are expected to come in Friday before the 5 p.m. deadline.

The county will also begin counting about 10,000 provisional ballots cast on Election Day.

UPDATE 11:30 a.m.: Military ballots are getting dropped off to the elections warehouse in Allegheny County.

UPDATE 11:20 a.m.: Here are the latest Pennsylvania numbers as vote counting continues:

• Joe Biden: 3,301,186 (49.49%)
• President Donald Trump: 3,292,153 (49.36%)

>>RELATED STORY: DECISION 2020: President Trump or Joe Biden? Here’s how western Pennsylvania has voted

UPDATE 10:55 a.m.: There are 124,169 mail-in ballots left to count in Pennsylvania.

UPDATE 9:50 a.m.: The Return Board was sworn in by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald at 9 a.m. to go through about 35,000 ballots.

UPDATE 9:12 a.m.: Republican candidate Timothy DeFoor has won the race for Pennsylvania’s auditor general, defeating Democrat Nina Ahmad, among other candidates, according to The Associated Press.

DeFoor now takes over for Eugene DePasquale, who recently served two terms in that role.

UPDATE 8:52 a.m.: Joe Biden has taken the lead over President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, according to NBC News. Biden is up by 5,594 votes.

UPDATE 8 a.m.: Sen. Pat Toomey said he sees no evidence of fraud in the election during an interview with the TODAY Show. Watch his interview in the tweet below.

UPDATE 7 a.m.: The vote count is tightening even more in Pennsylvania, which is critical for President Trump to stay in the race.

With the state’s 20 electoral votes, Pennsylvania would put Joe Biden over the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. It’s a must-win for Trump because even if he were to win every other state that hasn’t been called, it would still not be enough to win re-election without Pennsylvania.

Statewide, there are 163,501 votes left to be counted, with 58,642 of those in Philadelphia County.

Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar has reiterated that voters need to be patient.

“What I’ve said all along is that the overwhelming majority of ballots will be counted by Friday. I still think that we’re ahead of schedule, and we actually already have counted the overwhelming majority of ballots, but because it’s a close race. It’s not quite clear who the winner is,” Boockvar said.

UPDATE 6:20 a.m.: Speaking to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman LIVE on Channel 11 Morning News, he provided an update on the election in the state as ballots continue to be counted.

“There isn’t one county or part of Pennsylvania where mail-in ballots -- and those are the only ballots left -- that aren’t breaking for at least by a two-to-one margin for Joe Biden, or higher,” Fetterman said.

He said there are 16,000 votes separating President Donald Trump from Joe Biden.

“It’s math at this point, and it’s just inevitable that you’re going to see Joe Biden cruise past him, and it’s going to happen today, I’m sure,” Fetterman said.

WATCH the full interview below or CLICK HERE.

UPDATE 5:20 a.m.: With three lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania by the GOP, here is a recap of what they are:

• A lawsuit against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar alleges she violated state law by having election officials contact voters with the wrong mail in ballots.
• A lawsuit claims election officials contacted voters before Election Day to correct mail-in ballots, which they say violates state law.
• A lawsuit is challenging the 3-day extension to accept mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day.

>>RELATED STORY: Multiple lawsuits challenge ballot counting in Pennsylvania

UPDATE 5 a.m.: Only about 18,000 votes separate President Donald Trump and Joe Biden in Pennsylvania. At 11 p.m., that number was around 30,000.

• President Trump: 3,285,965 (49.56%)
• Joe Biden: 3,267,923 (49.29%)

UPDATE 4:35 a.m.: Joe Biden has overtaken President Donald Trump in Georgia. Biden has 2,449,371 votes (49.39%) to Trump’s 2,448,454 (49.37%), according to The Associated Press.

UPDATE 4:30 a.m.: The Return Board will be going through about 35,000 ballots in Allegheny County on Friday after being sworn in by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

Here’s a breakdown of ballots that need special attention:

• A group of 6,500 ballots that were pulled aside because some couldn’t be read by the scanner, were missing a signature on the outer envelope or didn’t include the secrecy envelope (known as a naked ballot).
• Ballots that were damaged in the mail.
• The 29,000 ballots that were initially sent out incorrectly and were later corrected.

The group of 29,000 ballots has not yet been scanned because of a lawsuit by two Republican Congressional candidates that says they can’t be touched until 5 p.m. Friday -- which is the deadline for the county to receive mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day.

About 500 ballots were received through the mail by the county the day after Election Day. It’s unclear how many were received Thursday, and more are expected Friday.

Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam stressed that no races should be called until every single eligible vote is counted.

“We’re just asking everybody to be patient because, at the end of the day, it is so much more important that we have an accurate, secure election results that are beyond reproach than that we have quick election results,” Hallam said.

UPDATE 4 a.m.: The computation and canvassing of election returns will continue Friday in Allegheny County after County Executive Rich Fitzgerald swears in the Return Board at 9 a.m.

The first items to be addressed are ballots that were unscannable, county officials said.

At 4:30 p.m., the board will recess its process to allow for the continued canvass of incorrect ballots that were later corrected in early October.

“Pursuant to the Court’s order, the review, processing and counting of those ballots may begin after the ballot return deadline, which is 5:00 p.m.,” a media release said.

That process will begin at 5:30 p.m.

“The intent is to review the ballots and begin the processing and counting of those ballots that may be counted, and to defer those that must be reviewed as part of the Return Board process. Once the canvassing of the ballots is complete, the Return Board will reconvene,” the release said.

UPDATE 1:32 a.m.: There are now just 18,000 votes separating President Trump and Joe Biden in Pennsylvania, according to NBC News.

UPDATE 12:20 a.m.: The difference in votes between President Trump and former VP Joe Biden in Pennsylvania is now less than 23,000, NBC News is reporting.

According to state officials, there are still 163,501 ballots left to be counted.

Thursday updates:

UPDATE 10:48 p.m.: An estimated 26,000 votes now stand between President Trump and Joe Biden in Pennsylvania.

200,000 ballots still need to be counted. A huge chunk of those are in Philadelphia and Allegheny County.

The ones in Allegheny County won’t start being counted until 5 p.m. Friday. A chunk of those ballots will likely be disqualified. Included are 29,000 that were set aside after those voters received incorrect ballots last month.

>>> Here’s why the thousands of mail-in ballots in Allegheny County can’t be counted until Friday

UPDATE 9:07 p.m.: Fewer than 50,000 votes separate President Trump and Joe Biden in the presidential race in Pennsylvania, NBC News is reporting.

250,000 ballots still need to be counted in the state.

UPDATE 8:36 p.m.: Pennsylvania has less than 10% of its absentee ballots still to be counted, according to data posted on the state’s official election site.

There are 250,666 ballots left out of the 2,618,565 ballots cast statewide. Philadelphia has just 72,470 left to count, according to the website.

UPDATE 7:45 p.m.: A federal judge has denied a bid by President Donald Trump’s campaign to stop the vote count in Philadelphia over observer access, urging the two sides to instead forge an agreement.

U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond suggested each party be allowed 60 observers inside a hall at a downtown convention center where the final ballots are being tallied. As the hearing unfolded Thursday evening, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden were locked in a tight battle for the 20 electoral votes in Pennsylvania.

Diamond, an appointee of President George W. Bush, chastened the lawyers as both sides bickered about who was following the rules and reminded them they are officers of the court.

“Really, can’t we be responsible adults here and reach an agreement?” the exasperated judge asked. “The whole thing could (soon) be moot.”

Republicans went to court Thursday afternoon to complain that election officials in the Democratic-led city were ignoring a state court order they’d won earlier in the day to give them a closer view of ballot processing.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

UPDATE 5:24 p.m.: Pennsylvania had hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count Thursday, a number that state officials expected to dwindle rapidly as Democrat Joe Biden and President Donald Trump fought to the end for the White House.

“It’s very close in Pennsylvania, there’s no question,” said the state’s election’s chief, Kathy Boockvar. “So that means it’s going to take longer to actually see who the winner is.”

Some of the state’s most heavily populated locales, including Montgomery and Chester counties in the Philadelphia suburbs, reported finishing their tallies. The Trump campaign asked a federal judge to stop the count in Philadelphia itself, alleging city officials were depriving their observers of meaningful access. There was no immediate ruling.

Despite a flurry of legal action by Trump and the Republican Party over aspects of the count, counties across Pennsylvania headed toward the finish line of a massive tabulating effort that included millions of mail-in ballots. Pennsylvania remained the largest electoral prize yet to be called.

“We’re in a very good place with the mail-in and absentee ballots, but not quite there yet,” Boockvar, the secretary of state, said at a late-afternoon briefing. “What I’ve said all along is that the overwhelming majority of ballots will be counted by Friday. I still think we’re ahead of schedule.”

The Associated Press contributed to the update above.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.: Joe Biden spoke from Delaware as ballots are still being counted in several states.

Biden encouraged people to stay calm.

“Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well, but that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years with a system of governance that has been the envy of the world. We continue to feel very good about where things stand," Biden said.

He said he was confident that when the count was completed, he and Sen. Harris will be declared the winners.

You can watch his full statement below:

UPDATE 2:39 p.m.: The Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office confirms to Channel 11 they expect to know the outcome of the Presidential election here in the state by the end of the day on Thursday.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar will be speaking at 5:15 p.m. We’ll have that LIVE on Channel 11 and in our WPXI Now streaming apps.

Click here to read more.

UPDATE 12:40 p.m.: Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald addressed the uncounted ballots and gave an update on the election.

He said election workers have been working nearly around the clock to process ballots. As of Wednesday night, 675,928 votes have been recorded and put on the state website. In the mail, 313,072 were processed as well.

About 35,000 mail-in ballots need to be reviewed. Of those, 29,000 ballots have been ordered by federal court to not be handled or processed until 5pm Friday.

Another 6,800 ballots have other issues: they were damaged in the mail, but by the counting machine, there was no secrecy envelope, date issues, etc. Those ballots will be looked at starting Friday morning by federal order. They have not begun to organize ballots postmarked by election day and provisional ballots have not been dealt with yet, either.

The Return Board of Elections will be sworn in at 9 a.m. Friday to begin that process, according to law. The public, poll watchers and all ballots will be on hand as the board begins to process those ballots.

Workers are preparing for Friday with organizing and setting up equipment, it is not a day off.

UPDATE 12:26 p.m.: Commonwealth Court officials say despite rumors circulating, there is no filing in the state Supreme Court and justices have no overruled any action by the Commonwealth Court. The Supreme Court has not taken any actions on any Commonwealth Court case nor are there any pending filings.

UPDATE 11:20 a.m.: The Trump campaign has won the right to observe ballot counters in Philadelphia after a Pennsylvania court granted the rights.

According to the order from the Commonwealth Court, effective immediately “all candidates, watchers or candidate representatives” are allowed to be present for the ballot count and must stay at least 6 feet apart while wearing a mask.

Canvassing was briefly halted while the order was being worked out.

UPDATE 11 a.m.: Sean Parnell has responded after his opponent for the 17th Congressional District seat, Conor Lamb, held a news conference to declare himself the winner Wednesday night.

Parnell’s campaign sent Channel 11 a statement:

"Over the past 24 hours, we have looked closely at the votes already counted, the votes yet to be counted, and widely reported irregularities in those votes. Whether those irregularities end up meaningful or not, it is abundantly clear that this election cannot be decided until every vote is counted and verified as legal.

"Last night, despite previously calling for every vote to be counted, Conor Lamb claimed victory practically the minute he took a slim lead in this race. Unless Lamb has a sixth sense that helps him precisely determine vote totals from outstanding precincts in this razor’s edge race, he should exercise the restraint that he was calling for while significantly behind.

"All eyes are on Pennsylvania, and our poll workers have volunteered their time working day and night to count votes. We should absolutely let them continue their work, count every legal vote, and let the process play on until its rightful conclusion.

“Sean, unlike his opponent, is the candidate of law and order. He is absolutely committed to a full and fair accounting of all legal ballots, will fight on behalf of the people to make that happen, and will accept the will of the voters at that time, no matter the outcome. That is what makes our democracy great.”

UPDATE 10:30 a.m.: Allegheny will resume counting mail-in ballots Friday morning.

The mail-in ballots that are left are the ones that need very special attention and that’s what they’re going to focus on Friday.

So last night, workers finished up shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday and ended up getting through all the ballots they needed to scan and more.

In Allegheny County, Joe Biden is in the lead by about 19 points. That’s slightly better than Hillary did in 2016.

Around 313,000 mail-in ballots have been counted.

Another 35,000 still need to be manually examined, that includes the 29,000 incorrect ballots that went out in Allegheny County that were corrected.

The rest have other issues like incomplete ballots or ones that got damaged in the mail.

“We have resolution bins for the ones that the declaration was incomplete or didn’t have a date and a signature. Those are not part of the count. Those have been set aside. They’ll be determined by elections management staff and consultation by the law department whether those eventually do get counted. There will be ones that clearly don’t and there will be ones that will,” said Allegheny County Solicitor Andy Szefi.

The County Return Board is expected to go through all of those Friday morning starting at 9 a.m.

Representatives from each campaign will have eyes on what is happening.

Allegheny County might receive more ballots in the mail Friday. Those must be counted as long as they receive them by 5 p.m.

UPDATE 9:55 a.m.: A day after President Donald Trump’s campaign said it is suing to temporarily stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf reaffirmed his commitment to counting every vote.

>>STORY: President Trump team says it’s suing to stop Pennsylvania vote count

Wolf condemned all efforts to stop the vote count before every eligible vote is counted, releasing the following statement:

“Pennsylvania is going to count every vote and no amount of intimidation will stop our dedicated election officials in our municipalities. As a country and a commonwealth, we must reject efforts to intimidate election workers and prevent votes from being counted. The planned attacks on our elections this morning are undemocratic and all elected officials must denounce them. Pennsylvania will be prepared to protect our election workers and our votes.”

UPDATE 6:30 a.m.: There could be movement Thursday in a couple states that have yet to be declared in the race for the White House.

Overnight, several states added more votes to their counts -- specifically Arizona and Georgia.

While Arizona has been called in Joe Biden’s favor by The Associated Press, NBC News has not yet made a call.

Arizona released a new set of votes around 2:30 a.m. that shrunk Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump.

As for Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County is also supposed to release more votes.

Trump has a 3% lead over Biden in Pennsylvania, a lead that has narrowed significantly since Wednesday as more mail-in ballots came in. More Democrats than Republicans voted by mail in the state.

NBC News estimates there are 800,000 votes that still need to be counted in Pennsylvania.

In Georgia, the county where Atlanta is only has 10,000 absentee ballots left to count.

Nevada is supposed to release new results at noon.

UPDATE 4:30 a.m.: No ballot counting will be happening Thursday at the Allegheny County Election Headquarters.

The warehouse where ballots are counted will be closed for the day after workers finished counting mail-in ballots shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday.

There were 313,072 mail-in and absentee ballots that were scanned and counted.

Another 35,413 ballots still need to be manually examined. That number includes the 29,000 incorrect ballots that went out in the county and were later corrected with the mailing of new ballots. The rest have other issues, such as naked ballots or ballots that got damaged in the mail.

The County Return Board is expected to examine those ballots Friday.

Currently in Allegheny County, Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by about 19 points.

UPDATE 3:30 a.m.: U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb declared victory Wednesday night over Sean Parnell in the race for the 17th Congressional District.

Despite neither The Associated Press nor NBC News declaring a winner, Lamb said he is confident in his announcement.

Lamb thanked his supporters and expressed gratitude for another 2-year term, though admitted Republican challenger Parnell has not conceded and he has not heard from him.

The numbers are very tight. According to incomplete results, Lamb had 50.1% of the vote to Parnell’s 49.9%.

Incumbent Lamb said his campaign has a pretty good grasp on the numbers. He expects those totals will increase in the hours and days ahead as mail-in ballots continue to be counted.

“We had a pretty good sense about what the mail-in vote was going to look like, in part, because our campaign, the grassroot groups, the labor groups you see here … they really focused on the mail-in ballot campaign. It was a huge part of our effort,” Lamb said while speaking at the Steamfitters Union Hall.

The race gained national attention after President Donald Trump repeatedly endorsed Parnell, stressing he was the best candidate for the job.

Lamb’s seat was a major target in Republicans' mission to take back control of the House in 2020. As early as February 2019, the National Republican Congressional Committee listed the 17th District among the U.S. House seats it believed it could flip into GOP hands this year, according to The Associated Press.

UPDATE 2:45 a.m.: The battleground state of Pennsylvania could be battling it out in court.

President Donald Trump’s campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, claiming the vote counting process has not been transparent.

The lawsuit is also looking into the three-day extension that allows for the counting of mail-in ballots received up to three days after Election Day.

The Trump campaign says allowing those votes to be counted after Election Day is untimely and unlawful.

In the meantime, state leaders said they intend to count each and every vote.

>>STORY: President Trump team says it’s suing to stop Pennsylvania vote count

Boockvar refutes the president’s claims.

“It has never been so transparent, ever. You have counties live streaming. You have party candidate representatives watching every step of the process. It’s just not happening. There’s no evidence of what’s being alleged,” Boockvar said.

Ballots received after Election Day have been kept separate in anticipation of any potential court filings.

In the Keystone State, 20 electoral votes are up for grabs as Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden, narrows his lead in the race to 270 total electoral votes. Pennsylvania has yet to declare its results.

Trump is demanding the issues taken up in the lawsuit go beyond the state, requesting the high court get involved.

The Trump campaign’s lawsuit is not the only one Boockvar is at the center of.

Another lawsuit filed by several Republican lawmakers is over “curing” ballots. It claims election officers might have contacted voters if ballots weren’t correctly filled out or were missing critical pieces of information. Those voters were then allegedly given the opportunity to fix their ballots ahead of them being counted or vote by provisional ballot.

UPDATE 1 a.m.: The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, because there were roughly 1 million votes left to be counted Wednesday afternoon in the contest between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

Pennsylvania is among a handful of battleground states Trump and Biden are narrowly contesting as they seek the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Trump, who held a 675,000-vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the state.

“We’re winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount. We’re up 690,000 votes in Pennsylvania. These aren’t even close. It’s not like, ‘Oh, it’s close,’” Trump said during an appearance at the White House.

By Wednesday afternoon, his lead had slipped to 326,000. And the race is destined to get tighter.

>>FULL STORY: Why AP hasn’t called Pennsylvania

Wednesday updates:

UPDATE 11:00 p.m.: Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs explained the break down of ballots:

The current number of ballots cast is 675,928. This includes 313,072 mail-in and absentee ballots.

“On Tuesday at 8 PM, we had a total of 348,485 mail-in or absentee ballots returned. The difference between the two numbers – mail-in/absentee votes counted (313,072) and total ballots returned (348,485) is 35,413. That 35,413 includes the universe of voters who received incorrect ballots and were then issued corrected ballots (appx. 29,000), ballots that were unscannable and will need to be duplicated during the Return Board process (appx. 2,250) and miscellaneous ballots like ones missing the date, or an illegible voter on declaration (appx. 4,350). Again, those numbers are all estimates and explain the differences between the number that we have now and the number of ballots returned.”

Downs said the Return Board will convene Friday morning at 9 a.m.

There are six precincts of the 1,323 that will be reported tomorrow as their results were not transmitted from the regional reporting centers on Tuesday. Those are Braddock Hills 02, Homestead 01-01, Pittsburgh 20-13, Pittsburgh 25-01, Shaler 02-05, and Whitehall 09.

UPDATE 10:43 p.m.: Allegheny County has officially completed its mail-in ballot count.

313,072 ballots have been scanned and counted.

The 29,000 incorrect ballots sent out last month along with around 6,600 ballots where other issues arose will be manually examined by the Return Board on Friday.

Here are the latest numbers in the county:

UPDATE 10:07 p.m.: Rep. Conor Lamb has declared victory over Sean Parnell in the race for the 17th Congressional District.

Lamb told Channel 11 Parnell has not conceded yet.

The race has not been officially called yet.

UPDATE 9:36 p.m.: Allegheny County confirms they’re nearing the end of scanning mail-in votes. 307,516 mail-in ballots have been counted. Around 41,000 remain, but that includes the 29,000 that were incorrectly sent out last month and other ballots that will need to be manually inspected.

UPDATE 9:00 p.m.: President Donald Trump carries Beaver County with a total of 53,886 votes to Joe Biden’s 37,389 after all votes received so far were counted.

UPDATE 8:18 p.m.: Allegheny County is addressing rumors regarding the use Sharpie pens or markers:

The rumors circulating about the use of Sharpie pens or markers are just that – rumors. While we recommend that voters use blue or black ball point pens, and discourage the use of markers, it’s to prevent the ink from leaking through onto a back side of a ballot.

Your vote WILL BE counted. If the scanner is unable to read the ballot, the scan is tried several more times. If still not successful, the ballot would be recreated and verified during the Return Board process and would then be scanned and counted.

UPDATE 8:03 p.m.: A small precinct update was added to the total counts in Allegheny County, as well as 20,404 absentee and mail-in ballots bringing the total number of votes cast to 658,040.

The staff has scanned 287,171 mail-in and absentee ballots thus far with 114,103 of those scanned today since 10:30 AM.

UPDATE 7:07 p.m. A total of 3,366 additional in-person votes have been added to the total number of ballots cast in Allegheny County.

According to Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs, these additions reflect precincts that did not report yesterday and include: Bethel Park 2, Moon 7, North Fayette 2, Pittsburgh 3-4, Pittsburgh 5-12, Pittsburgh 9-1, Pittsburgh 20-2, Pittsburgh 21-1, Pittsburgh 32-4, Ross 4-2, and Upper St. Clair 8-2.

This brings the number of ballots cast in the county to 636,468.

UPDATE 6:27 p.m.: The Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar said we’re a little bit ahead of where she thought we’d be in counting ballots.

Hundreds of thousands of additional votes will be counted in Pennsylvania tonight.

UPDATE 6:15 p.m.: The Allegheny County elections staff has reviewed mail received today which included 525 returned ballots that were postmarked on or before Election Day. An additional 25 ballots were received from FedEx and 12 ballots were postmarked after Election Day.

UPDATE 6:00 p.m.: The Associated Press has now called Michigan for Joe Biden. That gives him 264 electoral votes.

UPDATE 5:35 p.m.: According to the Associated Press, Joe Biden said he’s bot ready to declare victory while votes are still being counted, but “when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

UPDATE 5:12 p.m.: In Allegheny County, officials are pulling data from ballot scanners and expect to have additional information on the election website in the 30 to 45 minutes.

As of now, 237,759 mail-in and absentee ballots have been counted. There are 110,726 ballots remaining. Approximately 29,000 ballots will be reviewed as part of the Return Board process, according to election officials. Of those, not all will be scanned during this process as some have been set aside due to various issues that need to be resolved before they can be opened and processed.

>>RELATED: Agreement reached over incorrect ballots sent to voters in Allegheny County

UPDATE 5:02 p.m.: Election officials in Butler County have finished counting mail-in ballot votes.

UPDATE 4:28 p.m.: NBC News has called the state of Michigan for Joe Biden. The Associated Press has not yet called the race.

UPDATE 4:10 p.m.: Gov. Tom Wolf has condemned the Trump campaign for filing a lawsuit to stop the counting of ballots in Pennsylvania. He released the following statement:

"Pennsylvania is going to count every vote and make sure that everyone has their voice heard. Pennsylvania is going to fight every single attempt to disenfranchise voters and continue to administer a free and fair election. Our election officials at the state and local level should be free to do their jobs without intimidation or attacks. These attempts to subvert the democratic process are disgraceful.

"In Philadelphia, officials are administering the election with the highest degree of transparency. There has been a livestream of the ballot-counting process available throughout the count, and all parties have canvass observers.

“Pennsylvania will fight every attempt to undermine the election. We will count every vote.”

UPDATE 4 p.m.: A group has gathered at the City-County building in downtown Pittsburgh to make sure every vote is counted in this last Presidential Election.

UPDATE 3:26 p.m.: The Trump campaign says it’s suing to stop the vote count in Pennsylvania over what it says is a lack of transparency and is seeking to intervene in a Supreme Court case, according to the Associated Press.

Click HERE to read more.

UPDATE 2:34 p.m.: 40+% of Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots have NOT been counted. 73% of all mail-in ballots counted so far have been in favor of Biden.

UPDATE 2:10 p.m. The Associated Press has called Wisconsin for Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien says the president plans to “immediately” request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the race remains close.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: Here is the latest update from Allegheny County:

"The county announced in October that nearly 29,000 incorrect ballots were sent to voters and, as a result new, corrected ballots were issued to those voters. The effort to reconcile those ballots with the voters will be done as part of the Return Board process. Additionally, there are an unknown number (our priority has been to process, scan and count the ballots with no issues) of ballots will need to be resolved with the Elections Division in consultation with the Law Department. The review of those ballots will begin later today and updates and numbers of those will be provided as they are available.

We do not currently have a count of provisional ballots cast in Allegheny County and will likely not have those numbers for several days.

Today’s mail has arrived at the Elections warehouse. We estimate that approximately 500 mail-in and absentee ballots were delivered. As announced previously, those ballots will be segregated along with any mail received through Friday."

To see the latest updates from the county, CLICK HERE.

UPDATE 12:20 p.m.: 15,118 ballots have been scanned since the 10:30 a.m. restart in Allegheny County.

UPDATE 12 p.m.: After encountering some issues last night, workers again started opening and scanning ballots Wednesday morning inside the Butler County Government Center.

The process stopped about 11 p.m. Tuesday night after their main high-speed scanner broke and was down for most of the day. Workers had been forced to use a smaller scanner, managing to get through roughly 50% of the mail-in and absentee ballots.

Workers will now spend all day Wednesday counting the remaining 18,000 ballots they received last night. They’re using the one working scanner and several smaller ones from polling places while they wait on the official replacement.

Election officials said if the main high-speed scanner would’ve worked, they could’ve processed 3,000 ballots an hour. Instead, they only got through 1,000 ballots an hour.

“It was a significant hit yesterday. We had hoped that we would be able to maybe push through and finish last night but, clearly, we only made it 50% of the way there, which actually, I think about it … it is somewhat miraculous considering the fact that the 850 didn’t function at all yesterday,” Leslie Osche, Chairman of the Butler County Board of Commissioners, said.

Osche said the goal is to have the 18,000 mail-in ballots counted by tonight. However, they won’t declare an official result because they will be counting additional ballots through Friday.

UPDATE 11:55 a.m.: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said this is one of the smoothest elections they’ve been a part of.

Boockvar estimates about 2.5 million to 3 million ballots were cast by mail. About 50% of mail-in ballots have been counted.

Wolf said it’s important to ensure each vote is counted accurately.

“The delay that we’re seeing is a sign that the system is working. This is a new system. It went into effect with Act 77 last year and there are 3 million, millions of mail-in ballots that are being counted. And that takes longer than the way we used to do it with the standard in-person voting. So, we may not know the results even today, but the important thing is that we have accurate results, even if that takes a little longer than we’re used to,” Wolf said.

Seven counties just started counting ballots Wednesday morning.

UPDATE 11:30 a.m.: Here are the latest numbers in Allegheny County for the presidential race:

• Biden: 283,368 (53.5%)
• Trump: 237,435 (43.8%)

More than 150,000 mail-in ballots still need to be counted. All but a handful of precincts have reported.

UPDATE 11:20 a.m.: Republican candidate for Attorney General Heather Heidelbaugh released the following statement regarding early results of Tuesday’s vote:

"We are encouraged by the early results of Tuesday’s vote, but it is essential that every, legal vote be counted, and that the process be beyond question. That means that Josh Shapiro cannot be seen as having his thumb on the scale, acting in the dual roles of legal arbiter of the vote and a candidate deeply invested in its outcome.

"On the eve of the election, Josh Shapiro even went as far as to declare on social media that President Trump would lose Pennsylvania.

“I am calling on Josh Shapiro to appoint a trusted and impartial deputy to oversee any legal questions and disputes in which that office might play a role concerning this election. The outcome of these elections in Pennsylvania must not be muddled with this glaring conflict of interest. Again, I urge Josh Shapiro to step aside and put an end to flagrant partiality inherent in his dual roles.”

UPDATE 11:10 a.m.: Allegheny County has received 348,000 mail-in ballots, 173,000 of which were scanned yesterday, County Solicitor Andrew Szefi said Wednesday.

Szefi said crews will be working until all ballots are scanned.

Issues that the county has run into include naked ballots, ballots with no date and incomplete ballots.

Ballots that come in Wednesday will be counted separately. Ballots can be received through 5 p.m. Friday.

By law, the county could not start counting ballots until 7 a.m. yesterday, Szefi said. There were 250 workers who started scanning at that time and shifts got smaller throughout the day.

Things are “going very smoothly,” according to Szefi, but ballots that are folded three ways does slow things down.

Counting started back up at 10:30 a.m. after stopping around 2:30 a.m. because people were tired and needed a break.

UPDATE 10:43 a.m.: Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said Pennsylvania is approaching 50% of mail-in ballots being counted.

UPDATE 10:20 a.m.: Allegheny County has about 150,000 ballots left to count.

Workers at the Allegheny County Elections Headquarters worked for 22 straight hours. They took a break around 2:30 a.m. and are resuming at 10:30 a.m.

UPDATE 10:10 a.m.: Vote counting is again underway in Westmoreland County.

UPDATE 9:57 a.m.: Channel 11′s Alyssa Raymond just got inside the Allegheny County Elections Headquarters, where crews were told to report at 10 a.m. Scanning of ballots is expected to start back up around 10:30 a.m.

UPDATE 9:50 a.m.: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is promising Pennsylvanians that every vote will be counted.

Early Wednesday morning, shortly after President Donald Trump criticized this election’s results process, Wolf tweeted that Pennsylvania still has over 1 million mail-in ballots to count.

Trump said he is winning Pennsylvania by a “tremendous amount of votes.” He said this during an address from the White House in which he cried foul over the election results, calling the process “a major fraud on our nation.”

Wolf assured that Pennsylvania will have a fair election.

“Our counties are working tirelessly to process votes as quickly AND as accurately as possible,” Wolf tweeted.

UPDATE 9:42 a.m.: Republican Mike Kelly wins reelection to U.S. House in Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District, The Associated Press reports.

UPDATE 9:25 a.m.: Butler County mailed out 38,759 ballots and got back 31,191, a difference of 7,568.

County officials attribute the difference to people changing their minds, wanting to vote in person or mail it in as long as it was postmarked by Tuesday.

UPDATE 9:15 a.m.: Officials in Butler County are working hard to count mail-in ballots Wednesday after their primary scanner stopped working yesterday.

“It was a significant hit yesterday,” Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche said.

Osche said the team will work all day Wednesday to count votes.

UPDATE 8:40 a.m.: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf will be giving an update on the election later this morning. His update is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. We’ll stream it LIVE when it starts >>> HERE.

UPDATE 7:45 a.m.: A Butler County official said 15,000-18,000 mail-in ballots still need to be counted.

They don’t have an exact number because they picked the ballots up at the post office before 8 p.m. Tuesday.

UPDATE 7:20 a.m.: Election officials in Butler County are waiting on a new scanner after there was a mechanical issue with one they have.

Butler County commissioners put the mail-in ballot counting process on pause last night. Counting will resume Wednesday morning.

Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche said she doesn’t know when exactly the new scanner will arrive.

“We did not have an ETA on the machine. But in the meantime, our intention is to move forward with the DS450 and many smaller scanners so we can finish counting by this evening.”

UPDATE 6:20 a.m.: Channel 11 News spoke with a political science professor at Carlow University about the election and where it stands.

Both President Donald Trump and Joe Biden were optimistic when they spoke early Wednesday morning. However, Trump called the election a “fraud” on the American public.

“Our nation is about to enter a firestorm of litigation. Trump’s tone was confrontational. Biden’s tone was confident, and also they asked for patience, but both sides are prepared with armies of lawyers to defend their positions, and litigation is inevitable,” Dr. William Schweers said.

Regardless of who wins, what conversation needs to happen moving forward about polling in our country?

“Polling has been more accurate this year than 2016, and yet the polls, nonetheless, have been wrong. It may be more accurate in Pennsylvania but, again, I think that we have been over reliant on the accuracy of the polls, and time again, we see they contradict election results, so you can’t put too much faith in the polls,” Schweers said.

UPDATE 5 a.m.: There was a big turnout in Pennsylvania for Tuesday’s election. With 9 million registered voters, 2.5 million votes were cast by mail. The Department of State is still working to calculate how many people showed up to the polls.

About 83% of mail-in ballots have been returned so far.

Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar acknowledged counting will take longer, but they said they want to make sure they count each and every vote.

Some Pennsylvania counties, including Allegheny, Butler and Westmoreland, stopped counting ballots overnight and will resume later this morning.

Beaver County is among seven counties that won’t even start counting ballots until Wednesday morning.

UPDATE 4 a.m.: The ballot counting process in Butler County started last night and had some issues. Meanwhile, Beaver County won’t start counting until today.

Butler County commissioners put the mail-in ballot counting process on pause last night. So far, roughly 50% of those ballots have been counted.

There was a mechanical issue with one of two scanners. Counting will resume later Wednesday morning once a new scanner arrives.

All 89 of Butler County’s precincts are reporting. So far, President Donald Trump is ahead in all of them.

In Beaver County, officials previously made the decision to wait until Wednesday to count mail-in ballots. With only six to 10 workers, election officials said they don’t have the manpower.

The latest results in Beaver County show more than 45,000 people have voted for Trump. A little more than 17,000 people have voted for Joe Biden.

Nearly 30,000 mail-in ballots will be processed Wednesday in Beaver County. Roughly 22,000 of those voters are registered Democrats.

UPDATE 3:25 a.m.: Joe Biden won Arizona’s 11 electoral votes, becoming the second Democratic presidential candidate since 1948 to claim victory in the longtime Republican stronghold, The Associated Press reported.

UPDATE 3:05 a.m.: In Allegheny County, there are 348,485 mail-in and absentee ballots that have been returned, a county spokesperson said.

Of those, 173,068 are scanned and uploaded and approximately 29,000 will be reviewed manually through the Return Board process, the spokesperson said. The remaining 146,537 will be scanned beginning late morning.

Ballot counting has been suspended until 10 a.m.

All ballots have been secured in the warehouse, with Allegheny County police patrolling the facility. The facility is also under 24-hour video surveillance, the spokesperson said.

UPDATE 2:45 a.m.: Speaking from the White House early Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he is winning Pennsylvania by a “tremendous amount of votes.”

However, just in Allegheny County, half of mail-in ballots need to be counted, NBC News reported after hearing from county election officials.

Allegheny County has suspended ballot counting until 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Trump cried foul over the election results, calling the process “a major fraud on our nation.” But there’s no evidence of foul play in the cliffhanger.

Trump is vowing to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on the inconclusive election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

UPDATE 2:35 a.m.: Republican Devlin Robinson has won the Pennsylvania Senate District 37 race, The Associated Press projected. He defeated Democrat Pam Iovino, shifting the balance of power in the state Senate.

UPDATE 2:10 a.m.: Rob Mercuri, a U.S. Army veteran, has won a previously vacant seat representing Allegheny County in the Pa. House of Representatives, according to The Associated Press.

Mercuri defeated Democratic candidate Emily Skopov for the District 28 seat, which represents parts of Allegheny County and a small portion of southern Butler County.

Skopov lost the election in 2018 as well to then-incumbent Mike Turzai.

UPDATE 1:50 a.m.: In the next hour, Allegheny County will suspend ballot counting until 10 a.m. Wednesday, Channel 11′s Aaron Martin has learned.

UPDATE 1:20 a.m.: An Allegheny County spokesperson provided the following update on an issue in which precinct information was not loading as quickly as it should have been:

“Late on Tuesday evening, our tech staff noticed that precinct information was not loading as quickly as it should have been. After doing some troubleshooting, and testing, with the tech staff, the decision was made to back out the votes coming in from the regional reporting systems and to transmit them again. For a short period of time, the total votes dropped by about 10,000 and has since continued to go back up with 515 precincts uploaded to the reporting software. The team is updating the system every 15 minutes.”

So far, 151,022 mail and absentee ballots have been scanned.

UPDATE 1:13 a.m.: Republican Glenn Thompson wins reelection to the U.S. House in Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District, The Associated Press projects.

UPDATE 1:08 a.m.: President Donald Trump has won Texas, The Associated Press is projecting.

UPDATE 12:55 a.m.: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke early Wednesday morning, telling his supporters to “keep the faith” as the counting continues.

He spent the evening watching the returns come in from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, then drove downtown by motorcade to make his statement outside the Chase Center.

Biden called out Pennsylvania and Allegheny County during his remarks.

“It’s going to take some time to count the votes, but we’re going to win Pennsylvania. I’ve been talking to folks in Philly, Allegheny County and Scranton, and they’re really encouraged by the turnout and what they see,” Biden said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

UPDATE 12:42 a.m.: Allegheny County has fixed a transmission error from the regional reporting centers. Results are now expected to be updated about every 15 minutes.

So far, 151,000 mail-in ballots have been processed in Allegheny County. Elections Director David Voye said it’s moving at a slower pace than he expected. That’s in part because machines that tabulate the votes are jamming. Workers are now scanning smaller batches.

UPDATE 12:36 a.m.: President Donald Trump has won Florida, according to The Associated Press.

UPDATE 12:32 a.m.: A lawsuit has been filed in Pennsylvania against Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar over a decision allegedly allowing “late illegal ballot manipulations.”

Several large counties in the state allegedly removed flawed mail-in ballots, which would otherwise be disqualified, and provided them to campaign workers and volunteers so voters could be contacted to correct them.

“On Monday evening, November 2 at 8:38 p.m., Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar authorized all Pennsylvania counties to be able to return erroneous ballots. This action allegedly violates Section 3146.8 of the Pennsylvania Election Code,” a news release said. “Furthermore, it is impractical as other counties, especially smaller and rural ones, did not have sufficient notice to make efforts to correct flawed ballots. There are potentially 10,000 or more flawed ballots which have been corrected and returned.”

The lawsuit argues that, according to Pennsylvania law, once ballots are received, they are to be set aside for election review until the election is complete.

UPDATE 12:06 a.m.: Allegheny County is dealing with a transmission problem from the regional reporting centers, explaining why we haven’t seen updated results in the last hour. The problem is expected to be resolved shortly but could cause a temporary drop in vote totals as it’s re-entered.

UPDATE 12 a.m.: NBC News projects President Trump as the winner of Ohio. The Associated Press hasn’t called the race yet.

Tuesday updates:

UPDATE 11:53 p.m.: Republican Guy Reschenthaler wins reelection to U.S. House in Pennsylvania’s 14th Congressional District, according to AP.

UPDATE 11:45 p.m.: Election officials in Beaver County said the voter turnout between mail-in and in-person ballots is 80.6% so far.

UPDATE 11:23 p.m.: 17th Congressional District update:

• Lamb: 51,803
• Parnell: 47,993

There’s still a lot of uncertainty in this race with less than 50% of precincts reporting and only about 1/3 of mail-in votes processed in Allegheny County. Beaver County begins counting mail-in ballots tomorrow.

UPDATE 10:54 p.m.: There have been 348,485 total mail-in and absentee ballots recorded as returned, according to Allegheny County. Of those, 125,383 are scanned.

Of the in-person voting, 421 precincts are currently reporting with more coming in.

UPDATE 10:42 p.m.: President Trump still leading in Westmoreland County. Officials say they will keep counting until about midnight.

UPDATE 10:38 p.m.: Here are the latest numbers in Allegheny County:

• Biden: 94,385
• Trump: 22,424

This total includes mail-in ballots that have been processed and around 32% of precincts reporting. The county elections director expects results from precincts to pick up over the next couple of hours.

UPDATE 10:25 p.m.: Democrats maintain control of the U.S. House, NBC News projects.

UPDATE 10:10 p.m.: 38% of ballots cast today in-person have been counted in Beaver County.

Here is the latest voting data:

• Donald Trump: 16,770 (70.57%)
• Joe Biden: 6,591 (27.74%)

UPDATE 10:07 p.m.: Local incumbent Rep. Mike Doyle has held off multiple challengers for his crucial seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the Associated Press.

UPDATE 9:53 p.m.: Beaver County mail-in ballot numbers:

• Total sent out: 35,408
• Total received: 29,661

UPDATE 9:45 p.m.: President Trump is narrowly leading Joe Biden in Westmoreland County with 30/37 precincts reporting.

Click here for LIVE election results.

UPDATE 9:40 p.m.: There are currently 111,884 mail-in and absentee ballots scanned in Allegheny County, according to a release.

The number of ballots marked returned is 347,711, and will continue to go up.

Here are the latest numbers:

• Biden: 89,293
• Trump: 20,745

UPDATE 9:38 p.m.: 16% of ballots cast today in-person have been counted in Beaver County.

Latest voting data:

• Donald Trump: 8,241 (72.08%)
• Joe Biden: 3,022 (26.43%)

UPDATE 9:10 p.m.: Here are the final number of Beaver County mail-in ballots:

• Total sent out: 35,408
• Total received: 29,661

Mail-in ballots will begin to be counted tomorrow in Beaver County.

UPDATE 9:03 p.m.: Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said that Pennsylvania saw no widespread significant problems amid high turnout at the polls.

There were more than 2.5 million ballots cast.

“We’ve heard a lot from the candidates in the last year, but today it was time for the people to speak,” Wolf said. “I’m proud of how Pennsylvanians conducted themselves in this historic election during a global pandemic. And I’m proud that democracy is alive and well in the commonwealth. This election elicited an apparent record in voter registration in Pennsylvania and impressively high turnout today at the polls as well as in mail ballot voting.”

This is the first general election in Pennsylvania where voters could vote by mail ballot without having to provide an excuse. The Department of State said will have an unofficial estimate of turnout at the polls in a few days.

“County election officials, poll workers and voters efficiently and peacefully carried out today’s election amid the biggest reforms to voting in the commonwealth in 80 years,” Boockvar said. "They embraced the new mail-in ballot option and safely voted at the polls.

Volunteers and Department of State staff answered more than 5,000 calls received on their voter help line.

“This election’s true heroes are the poll workers who kept the polling places open and safe for the millions of Pennsylvanians who voted today and the county election officials who have been working incredibly hard all year to implement the voting reforms,” Secretary Boockvar said.

Boockvar predicted that the overwhelming majority of ballots will be counted within a few days.

“If we stopped counting ballots tonight, we would disenfranchise countless numbers of military and civilian overseas voters whose ballots, by law, must be accepted up to seven days after the election,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants to deny the men and women who are serving our country, nor the millions more civilian voters who voted by mail, their constitutional right to vote.”

UPDATE 8:31 p.m.: Butler County officials say they are experiencing problems with ballot counting equipment.

According to the Butler County Board of Elections, nearly 50% of mail-in and absentee ballots returned have not been counted. There have been mechanical issues and the process of counting ballots has been slower than anticipated.

Ballots will continue to be counted until 11 p.m. and will resume at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. A new scanner is expected to arrive in the morning as well.

UPDATE 8:03 p.m.: Allegheny County officials said 347,670 mail-in ballots have been turned into the county, which is 84% of all the ballots requested.

The first-mail in ballots results have been posted.

• Biden: 51,555
• Trump: 12,147
• Jorgensen: 564

In-person results are expected to begin reporting at 9 p.m.

UPDATE 8:01 p.m.: Joe Biden wins Maryland, according to The Associated Press.

UPDATE 8:00 p.m.: The polls are now CLOSED in Pennsylvania.

Click here for LIVE election results.

We also have LIVE coverage in our WPXI Now streaming apps and on our Facebook page:

UPDATE 7:34 p.m.: President Trump has been declared the winner in West Virginia, according to The Associated Press.

UPDATE 7:05 p.m.: As of 6:40 PM, 82,716 ballots have been scanned in Allegheny County.

Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs said there are approximately 20,000 ballots that did not contain bar codes and are being manually entered and checked in. They expect that in the next hour or two, the vast majority of the ballots will have had the secrecy envelopes separated from the declaration envelopes with only the final set of ballots needing to go through the process. There will also be additional ballots that were returned by voters to the County Office Building that will be transported here after polls close and will also go through the process for opening, Downs said.

There are currently 160+ staff working on that process. A third shift of employees will come in relieve this set at 11 p.m.

UPDATE 7:02 p.m.: Gov. Tom Wolf released a video message urging Pennsylvanians to remain calm and stay united on election night and the days ahead.

“Across the state, dedicated county workers are ready to tirelessly make sure everyone’s vote counts,” said Gov. Wolf. “But counting that tremendous number of ballots will take more time than we are used to. We may not know the results today, but I encourage all of us to take a deep breath and be patient. What is most important is that we have accurate results, even if that takes a little longer.”

Click here to watch the video.

UPDATE 6:00 p.m.: Representative Conor Lamb said if the polling place you go to is out of declaration forms to surrender/spoil your mail ballot, you can call (412) 403-1299.

UPDATE 5:35 p.m.: Channel 11′s Jillian Hartmann found some people who ran into problems trying to surrender their mail-in ballots to vote in-person.

The two voters Hartmann spoke with surrendered their mail-in ballots this morning so they could vote in person today, knowing the critical role.

David and Tami Seretti reached out to Channel 11 after running into problems at their polling location in Center Township.

They surrendered their mail-in ballot so they could fill out a ballot in person, scan it right then and there.

Instead, they said the poll workers made the couple fill out a provisional ballot.

The couple was furious, understanding the importance of their vote here in Beaver County and that it could potentially play a big part in determining who becomes the next president.

So they wanted their ballot counted today, not tomorrow.

“We’ve been voting for a long time and this is the worst experience ever for me, and I’m sure it is for her as well,” said David Seretti.

“I felt robbed. I voted in every election for the last 35 years and I vote in person,” said Tami Seretti.

SEND US YOUR ELECTION DAY PHOTOS BELOW.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Pennsylvania is proving to be one of the critical states in this election, and it wasn’t after overcoming some obstacles to get here, like missing and delayed ballots. But state leaders are reminding people -- don’t expect clear results tonight.

“If they’re both here multiple times, ending their campaigns here in our state what does that tell you -- either PA is mission critical or everyone’s wrong,” Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said.

Fetterman is hoping the strong turnout pulls strong results, but the unpredictability could potentially take the spotlight off Pennsylvania.

“Nobody knows what’s going to happen. If Texas goes blue, or Georgia goes blue, Pennsylvania will just be gravy on the electoral college. Pennsylvania is probably going to be important that’s why you have all of these campaigns spending so much resources,” Fetterman said.

UPDATE 5:10 p.m.: In Butler County, whether the answer comes from Republicans or Democrats, officials say it will likely be a record-breaking response. Election officials tell me they’re seeing a record turnout and will most likely shatter 2016′s voter participation.

And just a few miles up the road in Beaver County, election officials said they expect an 80% voter turnout this year compared to 74% in 2016.

UPDATE 5:00 p.m.: Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs said they received reports of a few polling places which did not have voters sign the poll book. She said voters do not have to come back because the numbered list of voters will be used to remedy this issue and note those voters as having cast a vote in this election.

Downs confirmed two poll workers at Pittsburgh 15-1, 15-2, 15-3 were removed for fighting, but it’s unclear if it was verbal or physical.

A court order was issued for two poll watchers to be removed from Penn Hills 02-03 and 02-04 for alleged voter intimidation, according to Downs. The watchers voluntarily left, but vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

At 5 p.m., five full trays of returned ballots were delivered to the warehouse from the County Office Building. That accounts for approximately 2,000 ballots. Ballots may still be returned until 8 p.m.

As of 4:45 PM, 59,799 ballots have been counted.

UPDATE 4:53 p.m.: Allegheny County officials confirm two poll workers were removed from a Greenfield precinct for a disturbance. It’s unclear what they did at this point. The poll worker who caused the issue earlier on Ellsworth Avenue is now back working at that polling site.

The county has also processed nearly 60,000 ballots so far. That’s less than 18% of the 335,000+ expected to be returned. Given the time consuming process required to process each ballot, that’s not surprising.

UPDATE 4:33 p.m.: Here is the latest update from Westmoreland County:

They are expecting 80% to 85% voter turnout, an increase from the 2016 election.

Mail in ballots have been counted since 7 a.m., and they could be counted up to midnight or later -- they are playing that by ear.

There have been long lines at numerous precincts. One polling place had an issue with the scanner but evidently it’s been resolved.

Some voters have still not received their mail in ballots, but they still have options to vote.

Earlier this morning there was some confusion at the polls if people had requested mail-in ballots and then showed up at precincts to a) vote there instead, despite having received their mail-in ballots or b) vote there because they had not received them.

Commissioners wanted to stress these two clarifying facts from their website:

· If you do not want to use the mail-in or absentee ballot, you may still vote at your polling place, by bringing your entire ballot packet (ballot and all envelopes) to your polling place to be voided. You will also need to sign a declaration confirming that you want to surrender the ballot and vote in-person and that you have not previously voted in this election. After you surrender your ballot and envelopes and sign the declaration, you can then vote on a machine.

· Lastly, if you do NOT surrender your ballot and return envelopes or sign the declaration, you can only vote by a paper, provisional ballot at your polling place.

UPDATE 3:12 p.m.: During the 8 a.m. update from Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs, she said that Pittsburgh 05-05 in the Hill District was unable to open on time.

Down said that the Judge of Elections' vehicle was stolen with a suitcase inside, but has since been recovered by the Sheriff’s Office.

The suitcase did not contain ballots, but had the poll book and keys needed to open the ballot marking device and scanner, as well as other paperwork/materials.

Four of the five people who were believed to be in the vehicle are in custody. All of them are juveniles.

Downs also said the Elections Court ordered the removal of a poll worker from the polling place for Pittsburgh 4-10 and 4-11 on Ellsworth Avenue. She said other poll workers reported that the individual was causing a disturbance, taking pictures and video of poling place activities and looking at voters' ballots prior to those being scanned.

As of 3 p.m., 43,894 ballots have been scanned at the warehouse.

UPDATE 2:57 p.m.: Pittsburgh Public Works and the Clean Pittsburgh Commission are offering the opportunity for residents to recycle their campaign yard signs after the election.

Drop offs will Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. – 2 p.m. and will run from Nov. 4 through Dec. 4.

East End Drop-Off Center

2nd Division of Public Works

6814 Hamilton Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15208

412-665-3609

Hazelwood Drop-Off Center 3rd Division of Public Works 40 Melanchton St., Pittsburgh, PA 15207

412-422-6524

West End Drop-Off Center

5th Division of Public Works

1330 Hassler St., Pittsburgh, PA 15220

412-937-3054

Residents can visit https://pittsburghpa.gov/dpw/yard-sign-recycling for more information.

UPDATE 2:44 p.m.: One Washington County voter told Channel 11 he ordered a mail-in ballot, but insists he did not. He was forced to vote a provisional ballot. We are looking for answers on what happened.

UPDATE 2:31 p.m.: Just a reminder that local groups have organized nonpartisan rides to polling places to help make sure every vote counts.

Click HERE for more info.

UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: Voters are waiting over an hour at the Allegheny Township Community Building in Westmoreland County.

UPDATE 1:56 PM: Some people in Westmoreland County spend over two hours in line.

UPDATE 1:40 p.m.: Channel 11′s Amy Hudak is in Harrisburg where election workers are busy processing ballots.

Hundreds of volunteers have been opening mail-in ballots all day. From here, ballots in Dauphin County are sent downstairs where they’re counted.

UPDATE 1:30 p.m.: As of 1 p.m., 25,583 ballots have been scanned have been scanned in Allegheny County.

County spokesperson Amie Downs said staff are split approximately 50/50 now between removing the ballot from the privacy envelope and flattening the ballots for scanning. Another 30-40 people are continuing to process the mail that was received late yesterday and today so far.

Lines appear to be moving smoothly at all polling places.

Downs said there have been some complaints of individuals not wearing marks, requests to increase physical distancing and some arguments at polling places.

Elections has issued reminders to poll workers and has rover checking to ensure proper physical distancing in place, Downs said. There has been no need to take any actions relative to arguments.

UPDATE 1:19 p.m.: There is currently a 55 minute wait at McCormick Elementary in Moon Township.

UPDATE 1:02 p.m.: Voters in Jackson Township, Butler County are nearly wrapped around the municipal building. Officials said they expect a 10% larger voter turnout this election than in 2016.

UPDATE 1:00 p.m.: Black Political Empowerment Project volunteers are at Faison Elementary in Homewood helping voters. Two of them told Channel 11 they are hearing of people going to the wrong polling location after sites were consolidated during the primary but haven’t heard of any voter intimidation incidents.

UPDATE 12:12 p.m.: Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said things are running very smoothly and they are having no problems -- but he also said it’s still early in the day.

UPDATE 11:50 a.m.: State leaders are reminding Pennsylvanians that they should not expect clear results Tuesday night.

As voters head to polling places, there are still about 500,000 ballots unaccounted for.

Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar gave an update Tuesday morning and said about 81% of ballots have been returned so far, totaling more than 2.5 million returned ballots.

To put that into perspective, that number is surpassing 10 times the amount of votes cast by mail in 2016.

Boockvar gave a few reminders about ballots people might still have on hand. If you haven’t cast your mail-in ballot or you change your mind prior to submitting your ballot, you can still go to the polls.

“You can’t just turn your mail-in ballot over at the polling place. Surrender your ballot and cast it by provisional ballot,” Boockvar said.

Anyone who still has a mail-in ballot sitting at home can still drop it off at a drop box by 8 p.m.

UPDATE 11:35 a.m.: At McCormick Elementary in Moon Township, a line is wrapped around the building.

UPDATE 11:15 a.m.: As of 11 a.m., Allegheny County Elections officials have scanned more than 9,000 mail-in ballots, a county spokesperson said.

Monday and Tuesday’s mail is being checked in and processed.

All ballots are in some step of the process, with two exceptions:

1. The ballots were returned by a voter that received incorrect ballots. Those ballots will be processed manually to reconcile them.
2. Ballots that have been identified today as needing resolution will be reviewed by a team of elections officials in consultation with the law department about further steps.

UPDATE 11:05 a.m.: Three lines of voters are wrapped around the Jackson Township Municipal Building in Butler County. More than 640 people have voted so far there.

UPDATE 11 a.m.: Voters showers up early in Cranberry Township, waiting in a long line outside the Cranberry Township Municipal Center.

“It’s huge. I went inside. My husband needed a seat. There’s hundreds of people already in line,” Janet Muzyn, a voter, said.

People wore masks as they waited for their chance to vote.

State leaders and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency have been working together to ensure everyone -- poll workers and voters -- will be safe if they choose to go to the polls today.

Polling places have extra supplies, such as hand sanitizer, masks and pens.

>>RELATED STORY: Voting in person? Here’s what you need to know before heading to polls

Dr. Samuel Daisley, Vice President of Medical Affairs/Chief Medical Officer at UPMC Horizon, said people need to do their part, too, by wearing masks properly by having their nose and mouth covered.

“No one should be worried more about going to vote than they should going to get a quart of milk at the store or gas at the gas station. We’ve put the same precautions in place, and just keep your distance. Wash your hands. Wear your mask. Don’t be afraid to wash your hands as you move to each station,” Daisley said.

Doctors say poll workers are at a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19 compared to voters.

UPDATE 10:40 a.m.: One of the most highly-anticipated races this November is in our backyard. Incumbent Conor Lamb (D-Mt. Lebanon) is facing off against Sean Parnell (R-Ohio Township) for the 17th Pa. Congressional district on Nov. 3.

Channel 11 News caught up with the candidates on Tuesday at polling locations.

>>RELATED STORY: 17th Pa. Congressional district race: What you need to know

Lamb voted by mail and greeted supporters outside the Potomac Air Lodge polling location in Moon Township.

Lamb, a Mt. Lebanon native and former federal prosecutor and Marine Corps officer, won back in 2018.

He said he’s focusing on rebuilding the economy, helping to find a permanent solution to the COVID-19 pandemic and bringing more jobs to the area after so many have struggled and lost out this past year.

“All I want them to know is that I think what has defined this campaign is that our side believes we could be doing much better in battling this virus. It doesn’t have to be the way it is,” Lamb said.

Republican challenger Parnell voted in person in Ohio Township Tuesday morning. The Murrysville native and former platoon leader in Afghanistan has strong backing, with President Donald Trump endorsing him repeatedly and calling him the best candidate.

Parnell said he will continue to fight to reopen the state as the pandemic plays out, protect fracking jobs and allowing Americans to choose their health care plans.

“I’m a warrior for the energy industry. I don’t flip flop on the issue. I made that a pillar of my campaign narrative. I’ll defend the Second Amendment,” Parnell said.

UPDATE 9:55 a.m.: Allegheny County’s first few thousand mail-in and absentee ballots will be scanned shortly, a county spokesperson said.

“Approximately 80% ballots at the warehouse are at some stage of the pre-canvassing process. Over 105,000 have had the declaration review and had that first envelope opened, and another 10,000 have now had the secrecy envelope opened and are extracting and flattening the ballots for scanning.”

Three polling places (Monroeville 1-1, McKeesport 12-1 and Pittsburgh 5-5) that were delayed in opening are now open and operating.

According to the spokesperson, reports of machines that are not working correctly have all been addressed, with the majority of them being operator error.

Additionally, reports of needs for additional supplies or items for polling places have been addressed. In some cases, poll workers were not aware they already had them.

UPDATE 9:45 a.m.: Issues have been reported at several polling locations in Westmoreland County.

In Whitney, machines were malfunctioning. One woman said she waited over an hour, along with dozens of other voters. She was eventually able to vote, but she said many others gave up and went home.

In Fairmont, people were waiting in line for upwards of two hours.

There were also massive lines in Unity Township at SonRise Church. More than 100 people were in lines that stretched into the woods. Wait times were more than two hours.

UPDATE 9:20 a.m.: An issue has been reported at a polling location in Clay Township.

A scanner machine reportedly stopped working. While the polling place waits for a new machine, emergency ballot envelopes are being used.

Meanwhile, wait times at a polling location in Franklin Park are over an hour.

UPDATE 9 a.m.: Voters are lined up in Ohio Township.

UPDATE 8:55 a.m.: Wait times at a polling location in Moon Township have creeped up to 1 1/2 hours, according to some voters. The line goes around the building. Some people have chairs and blankets with them.

UPDATE 8:40 a.m.: Below is a look at the long line outside a polling location in Cranberry Township.

UPDATE 8:10 a.m.: Three election districts have not opened. They are Monroeville 1-1, McKeesport 12-1 and Pittsburgh 5-5.

“Elections has staff at each site and is creating a new suitcase with materials so that they can open,” an Allegheny County spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, at the Allegheny County Elections Warehouse on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, approximately 25% of ballots are at some stage of processing. Over 13,500 have gone through the declaration review and have had the declaration envelope opened and the secrecy envelopes extracted, according to the spokesperson.

UPDATE 7:50 a.m.: Voters are lined up outside a polling location in Coraopolis. The line stretches around the building and through the parking lot.

UPDATE 7:30 a.m.: Voters are lined up at the West Deer Senior Center.

UPDATE 7:25 a.m.: Voters are waiting in long lines in Wilkins Township.

UPDATE 7:15 a.m.: There were over 50 people in line at 7 a.m. at a polling place in Aleppo Township.

UPDATE 7 a.m.: Polls have opened in Pennsylvania and will remain open until 8 p.m. (CLICK HERE to find your polling place.)

>>RELATED STORY: Voting in person? Here’s what you need to know before heading to polls

What time do polls open/close on Election Day?

Polling places in Pennsylvania are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. If you have questions, you can ask a poll worker.

If your mail-in ballot is postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day and received in your county office by 5 p.m. on Nov. 6, it will be considered timely.

Not sure where your polling place is? CLICK HERE to find out!

[ Requested a mail-in ballot, but want to vote in person? It’s not as simple as just showing up ]

How can I get to the polls?

If you don’t have a means of transportation but still want to vote in-person on Election Day, there are several local groups providing free rides to the polls and satellite voting offices in Allegheny County.

The Black Political Empowerment Project started providing free rides for voters the first weekend the satellite offices were open. Other groups also provide free rides for voters.

Here are some COVID-19 safety guidelines each group asks voters to follow:

• Wear your mask, drivers and riders (no mask, no ride)
• Sanitize your hands upon entering the car
• Sit only in the backseat passenger side for maximum distance
• Roll down your window for maximum airflow
• Sanitizing wipes will be provided to drivers upon request
• One rider per car or three per van

Below is the list of available ride services to the polls:

1. B-PEP -- B-PEP provides voters anywhere in Allegheny County with free rides to the polls on Election Day. To arrange a ride before Election Day, call 412-212-8775. On Election Day, call 412-434-0919 to arrange a ride. Before getting into a car, make sure your driver has told you his/her name and knows your name.
2. VEEEM Pittsburgh -- This faith-based, nonpartisan community organization is dedicated to increasing voter turnout in the Greater Pittsburgh area. It is offering free rides on Election Day to voters anywhere in Allegheny County. To schedule a pick-up, call SD Transit, 412-242-1998. Please call 24 hours in advance.
3. Take Action Mon Valley -- It is providing Allegheny County voters in the Mon Valley (McKeesport, Duquesne, Braddock, Rankin, West Mifflin, Clairton, Whitaker, etc.) with free rides via Lyft, Uber or volunteer drivers to the Satellite Voting Office at CCAC South Campus in West Mifflin to the polls on Election Day. Call or text 412-440-8268 to request a ride.
4. Uber and Lyft -- They are offering voters discounted rides to the polls on Election Day. Uber is offering 50% off roundtrip rides to and from the polls (up to $7 each trip or $14 for two trips). Using the code 2020VOTE, Lyft is offering 50% off one ride up to $10 to any polling location on Election Day.

When you arrange a ride with any of these groups, ask for their COVID-19 guidelines in advance to make sure you’re comfortable with them.

No matter which group provides you with a free ride to the polls, they should tell you in advance the driver’s name and should provide the driver with your name. Then when a car arrives to take you to the polls, make sure the driver tells you his/her name and knows your name too.

Race for the White House: The Latest

After a rocky first debate, both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden squared off in the second and final debate on Oct. 22.

There were supposed to be three debates, but the second was canceled after Trump got COVID-19 and then objected to the resulting revised format, in which officials proposed doing it virtually.

Biden is leading most national polls and has a narrower advantage in the battleground states that could decide the race. More than 42 million people have already cast their ballots.

Biden told reporters Thursday in Delaware before his afternoon flight to Nashville that he had undergone testing for COVID-19 and the test came back negative. The White House was asked whether the president had been tested but had not released an update.

President Donald Trump says “it will be so good” if the Supreme Court puts an end to the Obama-era health law when the justices hear challenges to the Affordable Care Act next month. Trump made the comment in an interview with CBS' “60 Minutes” that’s set to air Sunday night. The president posted the full, unedited interview on Facebook on Thursday.

Democrats argue that Republicans are counting on the Senate confirmation of Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to be the death knell of the law, which is also called “Obamacare.” Republicans have bristled at the Democrats' claim about what could happen if the appeals court judge joins the high court.

Key races in Pennsylvania

We will identify the winners as these races are called below.

House of Representatives - Pa. District 17

• Conor Lamb (D) - Incumbent vs. Sean Parnell (R)

House of Representatives - Pa. District 18

• Michael Doyle (D) - Incumbent vs. Luke Negron (R)

Pa. House of Representatives - District 21

• Sara Innamorato (D) - Incumbent vs. John Waugh (R)

Pa. House of Representatives - District 28

• Emily Skopov (D) vs. Rob Mercuri (R)

Pa. Senate - District 37

• Pam Iovino (D) - Incumbent vs. Devlin Robinson (R)

Pa. Auditor General

• No incumbent, several candidates running

Pa. Attorney General

• Josh Shapiro (D) - Incumbent running against several other candidates

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES/RACES IN PENNSYLVANIA

Issues with mail-in ballots

The issues so far with mail-in ballots have been well-documented in Pennsylvania and nationwide.

Several counties in our area have been struggling to keep up with the demand for ballots, and there have been problems with voters getting incorrect ballots, ballots being sent to the wrong address and voters not getting their ballots at all.

HERE ARE SOME STORIES CHANNEL 11 HAS RECENTLY DONE DOCUMENTING THESE ISSUES:

• Election officials working to correct mail-in ballot problems in Fayette County
• Westmoreland Co. leaders scrambling for solution as thousands still waiting for mail-in ballots
• Dozens of Allegheny Co. voters' mail-in ballots sent to wrong addresses
• Thousands who requested mail-in ballots in Butler Co. still have not received them
• Allegheny County releases tool to see if you’re among nearly 29,000 voters who got wrong ballots

NOTE: Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.