Ballot counting continues in Philadelphia; process could take days
The votes were sent to a heavily guarded warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia to be counted by around 100 employees.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Ballots from the midterm election are still being counted in Philadelphia.
Officials say there are roughly 30,000 left to tally as of Wednesday afternoon. The final count is expected by Thursday or Friday.
"Everything has been going great," said Lisa Deeley, chairwoman of City Commissioners. "We started this in 2020 under the most dire of circumstances, and we did a good job in 2020."
About 453,870 ballots were cast in Philadelphia. That included 98,440 cast by mail. The turnout for the 2022 midterm elections stands at 42%, much less than the 52% turnout in the 2018 midterm elections.
The votes were sent to a heavily guarded warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia to be counted by around 100 employees working around the clock.
SEE ALSO: Why Philadelphia's vote-counting process could take longer
"Our process is accurate. The voters of Philadelphia should be assured that once we're done, they can trust that. They can trust our totals," Deeley said.
A last-minute change before the polls opened Tuesday meant that the process to count the vote could take longer.
Commissioners reinstated poll book verification. That's a process where the poll books that voters sign when voting in person are compared to the mail-in ballots to ensure there are no double votes.
As of Wednesday afternoon, elections officials said they had not found any instances of double voting.
City Commissioner Omar Sabir said anyone casting doubt on the results doesn't have the facts.
"People that had the platform of election deniers lost. I think the voters across America are ready to stand up for democracy," Sabir said.
