Kellen Stepler | editor-in-chief
11/5/2020
After a tumultuous couple of months leading up to the election, election day finally arrived yesterday – with all eyes on the keystone state to help determine the winner of this year’s presidential election.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Trump campaign filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, demanding better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being counted. They also raised concerns regarding absentee ballots.
“Pennsylvania is going to count every vote and make sure that everyone has their voice heard,” Wolf said in a statement. “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.”
The results in Pennsylvania – and across the country – are not confirmed yet, as votes are still being counted.
Before the election, Wolf said that due to the state not pre-canvassing mail-in ballots, the results will take longer than usual. Pre-canvassing is opening mail-in ballots before election day, but not counting them.
“We may not know the results today…but I encourage everyone all of us to take a deep breath and just be patient,” Wolf said at a press conference Tuesday night.
On Wednesday morning, Wolf noted that the delay of the results are a “stress test of democracy.”
“Make no mistake: our democracy is being tested in this election,” Wolf said. “The basic rule of one person, one vote – that still carries, and it has to carry here.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, democratic candidate Joe Biden is leading Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the electoral college, 264-214. 270 electoral votes are needed to secure the presidency. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Alaska had not been called by the Associated Press.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 55% of mail-in ballots in Allegheny County had been counted, and 58.97% had been counted statewide.
“We are exactly where we want to be,” said Pennsylvania secretary of state Kathy Boockvar Wednesday morning. “We are going to accurately count every single ballot.”
Here’s what we know at the time of publication:
Statewide, for the presidency, Trump has 51% of the vote compared to Biden’s 47.85% as of Wednesday night. In Allegheny County, Biden is leading Trump, 59% to 39.84%.
For Pennsylvania Attorney General, Democrat Josh Shapiro is leading Republican Heather Heidelbaugh 48.95% to 48.27% statewide. Shapiro received 61.69% of the vote in Allegheny County, compared to Heidelbaugh’s 35.11%.
For Pennsylvania Auditor General, Republican Timothy Defoor is leading Democrat Nina Ahmad 51.39% – 44.41% statewide. Ahmad has received 55.87% of the vote in Allegheny County, compared to Defoor’s 39.73%.
For state treasurer, Republican Stacy Garrity is leading Democrat Joe Torsella 50.63% to 46% statewide. Torsella received 56.98% of the vote in Allegheny County, compared to Garrity’s 39.08%.
Duquesne University is part of the state’s 18th congressional district, and 19th legislative district. In the 18th district, Democrat Mike Doyle recorded 68.66% of the vote compared to Republican challenger Luke Edison Negron’s 31.34%. Democrat Jake Wheatley ran unopposed in the 19th district.
City of Pittsburgh voters chose to pass the referendum on the ballot by a large margin – receiving 77% affirmation votes. The ballot measure would allow the board to act officially in its pursuit of police accountability, and work with the city controller and the Commission on Human Relations. It requires all officers and employees to participate in investigations conducted by the CPRB, and provides protection for sitting CPRB members from the mayor from removing a board member at will.
