Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf: ‘3 Million—Millions of Mail-In Ballots’ Yet to Be Counted

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said Wednesday morning that there are still “millions” of mail-in ballots yet to be counted in the battleground state, appearing to correct himself after giving a specific figure of “three million.”

Urging Americans to be patient, he said the delay in results is a “sign that the system is working.”

“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 stand-in, in-person voting,” Wolf said at a Wednesday morning brief.

“So we may not know the results either today, but the most important thing is we have accurate results. Again, even if that takes a little longer than we’re used to,” he continued.

The governor offered a lower estimate of outstanding ballots hours earlier — “over one million” — as the state paused its reporting altogether overnight.

“We still have over 1 million mail ballots to count in Pennsylvania,” he said shortly before 3 a.m. Eastern. “I promised Pennsylvanians that we would count every vote and that’s what we’re going to do”:

Let’s be clear: This is a partisan attack on Pennsylvania’s elections, our votes, and democracy.

Our counties are working tirelessly to process votes as quickly AND as accurately as possible.

Pennsylvania will have a fair election and we will count every vote.

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) November 4, 2020

During the Wednesday presser, Wolf said that our “democracy is being tested in this election,” adding that it is a “stress test” of the ideals the country was founded on:

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf: "Our democracy is being tested in this election. This is a stress test of the ideals upon which this country was founded. And the basic rule of one person, one vote — that still carries, and it has to carry here." https://t.co/fxHKy8hSEp pic.twitter.com/DY0zNl1i3a

— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 4, 2020

The Democrat governor added that he will do everything within his power to make sure the results are “fair” and “every vote is counted.”

“Pennsylvania will have a fair election, and that election will be free of outside influences,” Wolf said, vowing to “vigorously” stand against attempts to “attack” the vote in Pennsylvania.

Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D) repeated the governor’s sentiments, stating that there are “millions of ballots left to be counted.”

The state was approaching 50 percent of the mail-in vote counted as of Wednesday morning, according to Boockvar.

In addition to whatever ballots came in on Election Day, Pennsylvania poll workers will be able to count mail-in ballots that arrive in the next three days — even if there is not a clear postmark and even if the signature on the ballot does not match voter rolls.

The New York Times election tracker showed Trump up by nearly 10 points with 78 percent of the vote reported, shortly after 11 a.m. Eastern.

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, is remaining confident in the president’s prospects.

“If we count all legally cast ballots, we believe the president will win,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a phone call with reporters on Wednesday morning. That path to victory includes Pennsylvania, where they estimate Trump winning by roughly 40,000 votes.