Philadelphia Will Halt Mail-In Vote Count for the Night

Pennsylvania is one of the most important states in the United States right now as the presidential election draws to a close and, apparently, Philadelphia has decided to take a break.

The biggest city in the Keystone State, where President Donald Trump holds a small lead as of this writing, has decided to stop counting mail-in votes early.

“Philadelphia officials say they will not be reporting any more mail ballot results tonight. About 76,000 have been tallied so far — out of 350,000-some received. And remember, Biden supporters are disproportionately voting by mail,” Politico reporter Holly Otterbein said.

She later deleted that tweet and said that they will stop reporting at 1 a.m and resume again at 9 a.m.

“Philadelphia officials tell me they will report more mail-in ballot results between midnight and 1 a.m. The next batch will be reported at 9 a.m.,” she said.

Update: Philadelphia officials tell me they will report more mail-in ballot results between midnight and 1 a.m. The next batch will be reported at 9 a.m. https://t.co/PDVtdPYZuH

— Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) November 4, 2020

“Why am I suspicious that Philadelphia’s decision to stop counting mail-in ballots tonight is really a ploy to see how big Trump’s win is in the rest of the state, and have their ‘margin’ they need to close,” radio personality Kevin McCullough said.

Why am I suspicious that Philadelphia’s decision to stop counting mail-in ballots tonight is really a ploy to see how big Trump’s win is in the rest of the state, and have their “margin” they need to close.#PhillyAlwaysCheats

— Kevin McCullough (@KMCRadio) November 4, 2020

“We’re doing everything we can to make it as early as possible,” Philadelphia City Commissioners Lisa Deeley said during a 9 p.m. news conference, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “We’ll work 24 hours.”

Commissioner Al Schmidt said the mail-in votes skewed 16 -1 for former Vice President Joe Biden but many had “fatal flaws,” including lack of a signature or not being in the required secrecy envelope.

Still, the commissioners said they were thrilled with the voter turnout on Election Day.

“It’s no surprise to me that they are resilient and like to vote,” Deeley told the press. “There were a lot of challenges for them and they rose to the occasion.”