Wolf, Boockvar vow to count all Pa. ballots
In response to a lawsuit President Donald Trump's campaign filed Wednesday to stop the ongoing counting of ballots cast in Pennsylvania in Tuesday's election, Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar promised that every ballot will be counted.
“In Pennsylvania, every vote is going to count,” Wolf said in a brief new conference Wednesday evening.
He said Trump's suit would infringe on residents' right to vote and is an attempt to subvert the state's election process.
Trump's suit seeks to stop the vote count due to a lack of transparency. The suit demands better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted.
A similar suit was filed in Michigan.
Wolf said it takes longer to count ballots in Pennsylvania than in some other states because law prohibits counting until after the polls close.
“Pennsylvania has always had a late start in the counting process,” Wolf said.
He said the count is going “as smooth as I've ever seen.”
The election led to a record 9 million Pennsylvanians registering to vote, Wolf said.
Boockvar said the count is a little ahead of where she thought it would be at this time and county election offices and the Department of State are making progress. but it could take a few more days to count all ballots.
“Hundreds of thousands more will be counted tonight,” Boockvar said.
Wolf said Trump's concerns about transparency are unfounded. Philadelphia is livestreaming its vote count, he said.
“It seems to me it's never been more transparent than it is now,” he said.
Boockvar said there are fewer late arriving ballots than there were for the primary. She called the number of late arriving ballots modest.
Ballots that arrived after Tuesday are being tracked and kept separate from other ballots due to the court challenge, she said.
She said political party and candidate representatives are allowed to observe vote counts.
“We will oppose any effort to stop the count,” Bookvar said.
