Nearly two weeks after the election, staff in the Voter Registration Office have been focusing their time on the provisional ballots.
This follows a hearing surrounding questionable provisional ballots last Thursday.
Monday's focus was all about calculating the write-ins from the election, this comes as the office is also preparing for a recount and to certify the election results by next week.
The Voter Registration office has had a busy election season, between mail-in ballot issues, provisional ballot concerns, and recounts. The latest challenge staff are tackling are counting provisional ballots.
Erie County Clerk, Karen Chillcott said, "At this point not all those provisional votes have been counted, we are expecting an appeal of the challenges that were decided last week at the Board of Elections meetings, so pending the outcome of that, we can proceed with those provisional ballots."
This comes as the office is preparing for a state ordered recount on Wednesday. According to Chillcott, "This a mandatory recount, so the state has ordered a recount and this is for all the counties in the state of Pennsylvania, not just for Erie County. This is going to be for the office of U.S. Senator. As you know, that race was very close between McCormick and Casey, so we are doing a recount for that and should be completed hopefully by the 25th but due on the 26th."
Even weeks after the election, work still continues inside the Voter Registration Office and it will remain that way for the next several days as well. Staff said things won't slow down until the certification process is complete.
"Tomorrow we begin the logic and accuracy testing of the equipment, so that we can begin our recount. The official recount is going to start here on Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m. We expect to have our final certification of the election on the 25th, the recount is due on the 26th. Our goal was to hopefully have that accomplished on the 25th as well, so we can wrap both of those up at our Board of Elections meeting", said Chillcott.