Tens of thousands of mail-in ballots are secluded in a fenced-in section of a warehouse on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia, waiting to be counted.
Before the envelopes are securely stored, they are put through a large machine that, among other things, date-stamps each ballot and sorts them by the voter’s ward and division.
Beginning at 7 a.m. Tuesday, when polls open, election employees will begin opening the outer and inner ballot envelopes, using extraction tables and grinders. Then, workers will unfold and flatten the paper ballots.
The next, and perhaps most important, step involves running the ballots through scanners that are used to tabulate results. Ballots and envelopes that are damaged or contain errors are removed during the process and examined.
Pennsylvania, to the chagrin of the City Commissioners, who oversee elections in Philadelphia, does not allow pre-canvassing, meaning almost all of this work cannot occur until Election Day. It continues 24/7 until the job is done.
The various machines inside the 229,000-square-foot facility, known as the Philadelphia Election Warehouse, have significantly sped up the counting of mail ballots since the Commonwealth expanded access to vote by mail in 2019.
More than 86,000 mail ballots had been returned as of Thursday, about two-thirds of the envelopes that had been sent out, according to Omar Sabir, chair of the City Commissioners.
Anyone who has not sent their mail ballot in is advised to drop it at one of the city’s 38 return boxes. A map and list of locations is available at vote.phila.gov/ballot-drop-off. Mail votes are not counted unless the Commissioners receive the envelopes by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, no matter the postmark.
Sabir and his colleagues on the bipartisan board, Lisa Deeley and Seth Bluestein, led Mayor Cherelle Parker and members of the press on a tour of the warehouse Thursday afternoon, ahead of the mid-term election.
“Election security is not a Democratic or Republican issue,” Parker said. “It is about protecting every eligible Philadelphia voter's right to vote and ensuring that every vote is counted accurately.”
“I remain committed to supporting safe, secure and fair and transparent elections for every Philadelphian.”
On Tuesday, 685 polling places are set to open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for in-person voters, Sabir said. Residents can find their location by typing in their address at atlas.phila.gov/voting.
“I believe that Philadelphia has the most voting access in the country,” Sabir remarked.
For more information about voting in Philadelphia, go to vote.phila.gov.
MORE: What Pennsylvania mail voters need to know before Election Day
