ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- There were some concerns in the days and weeks leading up to Election Night that tallies could be delayed, but now that the confetti has settled and the concession speeches have been given, Tuesday seemed to have run smoothly for the Lehigh County election officials.
“It was definitely a good day," county head of elections Tim Benyo said. "One of the better of my 15 years of doing this.
“There’s always room for improvements, but I think we are focusing on those improvements and implementing those as they become evident. But the count’s going quicker. It was a good day.”
- Lehigh County's head of elections Tim Benyo touted a smooth election night with all precincts tallied by midnight
- State and local officials had called for patience as a full vote count was expected to take several days
- Lehigh County's count sped along with the help of about 20 additional workers
In late October, Leigh M. Chapman, Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of state, warned it may take several days following Election Night for all votes across the state to be counted.
And even on Election Night, less than an hour after polls closed, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk joined state representatives Peter Schweyer, D-22nd District, and Mike Schlossberg, D-132nd district, to make a plea for patience to ensure all votes were tallied correctly.
Yet, throughout the evening, Benyo was able to give regular updates to reporters at the county’s election office as votes came in.
In fact, just after polls closed, Benyo was able to share a tally from about 31,000 mail-in ballots quickly.
He said the count sped along as the office had about 20 more people opening envelopes and sorting ballots this year than in the past election.
"It was definitely a good day. One of the better of my 15 years of doing this."Tim Benyo, Lehigh County's chief clerk of elections
He said that relaxing COVID-19 restrictions helped as the office previously had to limit the number of workers in the office during an election to ensure social distancing was enforced.
“Having all the help was perfect," he said. "And I think that was the biggest factor that made this count quick.”
By about 10 p.m., the county had collected votes from 51 of Lehigh County’s 158 precincts and voter turnout was already at 24%.
By midnight, votes from all precincts had been tallied, and throughout the county, voter turnout reached a notable 58%.
“That’s a good turnout,” Benyo said.
Benyo said mail-in ballots that needed to be set aside if they were missing dates or had incorrect dates were not too much of a hurdle, either.
At the end of Election Day, the county put aside 223 mail-in or absentee ballots that had incorrect dates or were missing them. Also, the county set aside 403 "naked" mail-in ballots — those missing a security envelope.
In addition, Benyo said 26 other mail-in ballots were missing signatures.
Other than that, Benyo said there were six other ballots that he is investigating in case of any irregularity.
The election office’s next duty, as he said, will begin on Monday when the county tallies provisional ballots.
