Key counties in the battleground state of Pennsylvania will have all mail-in ballots counted soon after polls close on Election Day.

About 3,000 miles away, in another battleground county in the battleground state of Arizona, officials have warned that waits could last up to two weeks.

The rift stems from concerns that the U.S. voting system, which is implemented by different states and localities with a patchwork of their own procedures and rules, is unprepared for a new era of mail-in voting and early voting. reflects the growing trend of Last cycle, the raging pandemic led to major changes in how presidents are elected.

Officials in Allegheny County in western Pennsylvania said Tuesday they expect to release election results for Pittsburgh and surrounding areas within hours, after polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 due to mass voting. . The deck approach they have been testing. Allegheny is home to approximately 1.25 million residents.

“People want immediate results. That’s the expectation, that’s the hurdle,” said Allegheny County Public Affairs Director Abby Gardner. newsweek Wednesday. “No one has ever said to us, ‘I’m worried you’re going to see results too quickly. It should take longer.'”

The situation is different in Maricopa County, Arizona, where officials say it could take up to 10 to 13 days to process all ballots. Maricopa, which includes Phoenix, supported President Joe Biden in 2020 by a margin of about 45,000 voters (a county with a population of 4 million people).

The delay from Arizona’s count gave room for a pressure campaign by Trump supporters who cast doubt on the results and fueled false claims that the election was stolen from him.

Despite Arizona, Maricopa’s pace slowed. 1 of 12 states Although the state allows mail-in ballots to be processed and counted before Election Day, Pennsylvania is one of 23 states that prohibits mail-in votes from being counted until Election Day.

Allegheny officials tout its speed

“It’s a combination of human labor and high-speed mechanical equipment,” Gardner said of the county’s tabulation system. “Probably one of the most unique things we do is [is] There are just over 200 people who come to the warehouse and open the envelopes.

“So if you’re the chief public defender, the health director, the Allegheny County economic development director, everyone is working on elections, and everyone who can get out of their seat for a day is given a task.”

Mr. Allegheny decided to vote for President Biden in 2020, receiving 59.43% of the vote compared to 39.03% for Mr. Trump. Like metropolitan Philadelphia, Allegheny tends to lean toward Democratic candidates, while the more rural parts of the Keystone State lean heavily toward Republicans. The last time the county fielded a Republican candidate was in 1972.

At the election management committee meeting On Tuesday, county leaders said they would set the pace for other counties in battleground states, with 19 Electoral College votes potentially determining the winner.

“We set the standards and standards for Pennsylvania, and we want them to stay that way,” Republican City Councilman Sam DeMarco said at the meeting.

About 943,000 voters are registered in Allegheny, and that number is expected to rise slightly due to late arrivals after Monday’s deadline. More than 228,000 of those voters asked to vote by mail.

The last time voters went to the polls in 2023, mail-in ballots were counted within 18 seconds after the polls closed, a speed that officials said could be achieved by envelope-opening machines that can open 50,000 envelopes per hour. He says that this is also thanks to the acquisition of

Gardner said the speed of voting meant there were few, if any, concerns about the security and accuracy of the vote, as the county has been transparent about “how the sausage is made.”

Maricopa tread carefully

Election officials in the county, which covers the Phoenix metropolitan area and is home to 60% of Arizona’s population, have been slow to respond despite speculation surrounding the 2020 vote-counting process. .

President Biden won the county with 50.3% of the vote to Donald Trump’s 48.1%, with the latter claiming the state election was rigged against him.

Maricopa has introduced new security and transparency measures in the past four years, including installing cameras in key parts of election centers and conducting tours for citizens who want to know what’s going on behind closed doors. has been introduced.

In a sign of how cautious Maricopa officials are, law enforcement has also deployed snipers to protect county counting centers where voters are counted.

said Deputy Director of Elections Jennifer Liewer. press conference On Tuesday, it was announced that counting the 2.1 million ballots, which included 79 issues, would likely take up to two weeks.

“We want to make sure this is a safe process, but we also want to make sure it’s an accurate process,” she said.

Elections Supervisor Bill Gates said interest in elections is very high in Maricopa, where registered voters are split roughly one-third between Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters. He said he expected a very close race in determining which presidential candidate would win the district. Electoral College Vote.

More than 4,000 temporary election workers will be on hand to help with the process on Election Day, and more high-speed tabulation machines will be installed, but it could still take some time for Maricopa’s results to be released.

“This is largely influenced by people who stopped voting early on Election Day, because our elections are going to be close,” Liewer said.

The contrast between the two counties, each with its own rules and traditions, reflects America’s patchwork voting system.

Unlike India, which counted 640 million votes in a single day earlier this year, the U.S. has no federal rules requiring mail-in ballots to be counted before same-day votes are processed. Election systems also vary by state and county, and ballots vary from region to region across the country, impacting how quickly results are released.

brennan justice center explained No matter what the results look like in battleground states on election night in 2022, the results could be different as the days pass and counties release their tallies.

The group said voters shouldn’t question that, it’s just the way the system works.