After the polls close, a quiet but crucial process begins. Far from the noise of election night, Pennsylvania follows a deliberate, multi-step system to ensure every valid vote is counted and the results are accurate. Here’s how it works.
It Starts at the County Level
The journey from a cast ballot to a certified result begins not in Harrisburg, but in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. The process is managed by each county's board of elections, a bipartisan body responsible for administering the vote. Immediately following an election, they begin what is called the canvass: the official counting, tallying, and processing of all ballots. This includes mail-in ballots, absentee ballots, and in-person votes from polling places. For counties that participate in a state grant
program, the pre-canvass of mail ballots can begin at 7 a.m. on Election Day, though no results can be disclosed until polls close at 8 p.m. The public canvass, where the remaining ballots are tallied, must begin by the third day after the election.
The Canvass: A Public and Methodical Count
The canvassing process is methodical and transparent. County boards must provide public notice for their canvass meetings, and authorized representatives from each candidate and political party are permitted to observe the proceedings. This stage involves more than just counting. Officials must also review provisional ballots—those cast when a voter's eligibility is uncertain—and determine their validity. Voters have up to six calendar days after the election to provide any missing proof of identification for their ballot to be counted. The canvass also includes reconciling the number of voters who signed in at polling places with the number of ballots cast to ensure accuracy.
Audits and County Certification
Before finalizing their counts, counties are required to perform post-election audits to confirm the accuracy of the vote tabulation. One such audit involves a statistical recount of a random sample of at least 2,000 ballots or 2% of all ballots cast, whichever is less. Additionally, the Department of State has mandated statewide risk-limiting audits, which use statistical methods to compare paper ballots to machine-reported totals. Once all votes are counted, reviewed, and audited, the county board of elections meets publicly to vote on certifying their local results. By law, they must complete this and transmit the certified results to the Secretary of the Commonwealth no later than the third Monday following the election.
The State's Role: Tabulation and Final Approval
Once the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania's chief election official, receives the certified results from all 67 counties, the Department of State begins its own process. Officials tabulate and compute the votes from across the state to arrive at a final, statewide tally. This duty is considered ministerial, meaning it is a mandatory and non-discretionary task based on the numbers provided by the counties. If any statewide race is decided by a margin of 0.5% or less, the Secretary must order a recount.
The Final Step: The Governor's Signature
For federal elections—President, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House—the process culminates with the Governor. The Secretary of the Commonwealth presents the final, tabulated results to the Governor. For congressional races, the Governor then issues a 'certificate of election' to the winning candidate. In a presidential election, the Governor signs a 'Certificate of Ascertainment'. This official document lists the final vote totals for each candidate and formally names the slate of electors for the candidate who won the state's popular vote. This certificate is then sent to the U.S. Archivist, concluding Pennsylvania's certification of the presidential election result.
