by Alex Lloyd Gross
Safe and secure, elections are paramount to democracy. That is why the Philadelphia City Commissioners opened up the vote counting center on the Roosevelt Boulevard to the media. They wanted the public to know what goes on in the process.
When ballots come into the center, located on the Roosevelt Boulevard, they are immediately secured., opened, counted and then stored in a locked area. It sounds easy but there is a lot more to it than that. Each station where the ballots are play a vital role in the election process.
According to Commissioner Al Schmidt, city officials have visited election counting centers across the state and this is the best of the best concerning security and integrity.
The city officials loaded the machines with test ballots that have nothing to do with the election, to show off what each machine will do. They are fast, processing tens of thousands of ballots in an hour. Should ballots arrive that are not clear, they go for further adjudication to be counted.
This facility will only count ballots for the city of Philadelphia. Should someone drop a ballot for another area into a city ballot box, it will be time stamped and then sent to the appropriate municipality where it will be processed.
This facility is secure. One lane on the Roosevelt Boulevard, just north of Red Lion Road is dedicated to traffic that is going to the facility. Once the vehicle arrives at the facility , security will double check the credentials of the people in the vehicle. No ID, no entry to the building, it’s that simple.
Write in votes can be counted the same as any other vote. Nationally, there is a very good chance that we will not know the results until several days later for the presidential race. Smaller races should be able to be determined that night.. Early, mail in ballots can be sent in now. Election Day is November 5, 2024. Early ballots will not be counted until 7:00 AM on that date.