Pennsylvania Absentee & Mail-In Ballots Total Nearly 1.5 Million Votes Remaining To Be Counted
As the 2020 presidential election comes into focus, the state of Pennsylvania has captured the attention of American citizens. The Keystone State is a key battleground between incumbent President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden, the nominee for the Democratic Party. While Trump currently leads Pennsylvania by more than 600,000 votes, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State, nearly 1.5 million of the total 2.5 million absentee and mail-in ballots cast have yet to be counted.
According to figures provided by Pennsylvania’s government, there are more than 9 million registered voters in the state. Of those, 46 percent (4.2 million) are registered Democrats and 39 percent (3.5 million) are registered Republicans. Pennsylvania voters cast nearly 2.6 million absentee and mail-in ballots for the 2020 general election. Of those, 65 percent (1.67 million) were cast by registered Democrats and nearly 26 percent (611,520) were cast by registered Republicans. As the remaining ballots are counted, the absentee and mail-in votes are expected to favor Biden, based on these numbers.
For his part, Biden, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, told his supporters early Wednesday morning that he expects to be victorious.
“I’m here to tell you tonight we believe we’re on track to win this election.” Biden said, speaking from Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden stressed patience, given the unprecedented amount of early voting and mail-in voting that took place across the country, but also expressed optimism about the outcomes in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
“And by the way: it’s going take time to count the votes, but we’re going to win Pennsylvania,” Biden said.
Tune in as I speak to the nation live from Wilmington, Delaware. https://t.co/ye8knRucoz
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020
Trump, whose lead in Pennsylvania is shrinking, cast doubt on the results, calling them “very strange” in a Wednesday morning tweet.
“Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted,” Trump tweeted.
“How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?” Trump asked in a subsequent tweet.
Given the number or outstanding votes, no major outlet has called Pennsylvania for Trump, despite the lead he’s held. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, said that’s “cheating.”
“Trump now leads in Pennsylvania by 700,000 votes with 74% cast. It is a lie that it is too close to call. That is cheating,” Giuliani tweeted.
In addition to the remaining absentee and mail-in ballots, Pennsylvania still had 14 percent (1,345 of 9,152) of voting precincts outstanding as of Wednesday morning.
