Why won't Pennsylvania voters have results on Election Night?

Pennsylvania is among seven states, including the fellow battleground of Wisconsin , where pre-canvassing is prohibited under state law.

Secretary of State Al Schmidt a Republican appointed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2023 is explaining to voters that state law prohibits county boards of elections from beginning to process mail-in ballots until Election Day .

By contrast, states like Florida , with nearly double the population size of Pennsylvania ’s approximately 13 million residents, report their preliminary election results on Election Night .

The Keystone State has 19 electoral votes, tied with Illinois for the fifth most in the Keystone State .

A margin of tens of thousands of votes handed a win to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016 in Pennsylvania .

Since the 2020 election, the state has seen "significant turnover of election administrators" since 2020 .

The Shapiro administration in December canceled a $10.7 million contract to update the Pennsylvania voter roll system.

The current system, known as the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE), is two decades old and described as outdated by election administrators.

"It's very dangerous to change an election system in a presidential election cycle with heavy turnout and all the rest," Schmidt said.