HARRISBURG — 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.”
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.”
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Earlier in the day, Boockvar told Channel 11 they expected to know the outcome of the Presidential election in the state by the end of the day on Thursday.
Pennsylvania is a key battleground state and could determine who wins the race for President of the United States.
The Attorney General’s office told Channel 11 everything is running as normal around the state and no irregularities are being tracked at this time.
The Trump campaign had a legal win in Pennsylvania, winning the right to observe ballot counters in Philadelphia after a court granted the rights.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced this morning that there are still thousands of ballots that can not be counted until Friday due to a federal court order.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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