ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk joined state Reps. Peter Schweyer, (D-22), and Mike Schlossberg, (D-132), in the moments after the polls closed Tuesday to call for patience as votes are tallied.
The statement came early in a night that saw many races without final tallies as counts continued past midnight.
- Mayor Matt Tuerk joined fellow Democrats to call for patience as votes were tallied on election night
- Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman recently noted it could take several days after election night to know full results
- The mayor noted that it takes time to count all votes and that the wait does not indicate any type of election fraud
“It’s going to take time to get all these votes counted,” Turek said. “We are just asking everybody across the Lehigh Valley to be patient.”
Tuerk’s statements echo those of Leigh M. Chapman, Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of state, who warned in late October that it will take several days after the election before the votes are finally all counted.
The trio stood in the shadow of the Lehigh County Courthouse at Fifth and Hamilton streets about a half hour after polling places closed, to reassert the idea that a delay in vote counting doesn’t indicate any kind of fraud.
In fact, they said that, throughout Election Day, there were no issues at any polling place in Lehigh County.
“I have zero doubts that, whatever the election results will be tonight, will accurately record the wishes of the voters... There are Democrats and Republicans watching these results and making sure that everything is executed fairly.”State Rep. Mike Schlossberg
“I have zero doubts that, whatever the election results will be tonight, will accurately record the wishes of the voters," Schlossberg said. “There are Democrats and Republicans watching these results and making sure that everything is executed fairly.”
In a show of solidarity, elected officials in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Scranton made similar statements in the moments after the election.
“It's so very important that we give our election workers—public servants that are ensuring our democracy at a local level—the space and the time that they need to be able to accurately count the votes,” Schweyer said.
