The City of Philadelphia confirmed on Wednesday that it will use new machines to process mail-in ballots on Election Day, according to a new report. The city will now use the same equipment used in Pittsburgh.
Public records reported Wednesday by Spotlight PA show the City of Philadelphia purchased four Omation Model 306 Envelopener Letter Opener devices, which an industry website claims is capable of opening 40,000 envelopes per hour.
The outlet explained the devices are used solely to open mail-in ballots before they are tabulated, and explained the equipment used in Philadelphia during prior elections was only capable of processing just 5,000 ballots per hour, meaning the new machines could potentially offer an eight-fold increase.
By comparison, the outlet reported Pittsburgh was able to process 12,000 ballots per hour in the 2022 midterm elections, meaning election workers were able to determine winners at more than double the rate of those in Philadelphia.
While the city purchased the machines, it was reportedly unclear whether they would be used in November until Spotlight PA inquired prior to the publication of its article, as it reported Commissioner Lisa Deeley recently moved to set the new machines aside over the potential for the new machines to damage ballots, which would require them to be recreated by election workers.
For earlier election results, Deeley previously suggested Pennsylvania lawmakers should allow election workers to open ballots prior to Election Day in remarks published by The Washington Post.
According to Spotlight PA, election officials were optimistic that election results would be reported more quickly than in 2020, but that did not stop the Pennsylvania Department of State from publishing a warning about delayed election results in August.
In a web page and social media campaign, the agency declared, “Pennsylvanians won’t always know the final results of all races on election night. Any changes in results that occur as counties continue to count ballots are not evidence that an election is ‘rigged.'”
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick expressed skepticism at the announcement, urging Republicans to vote in record numbers to prevent doubts about the election results.
McCormick explained that Republicans “have to have huge voter turnouts so we win with such a margin that it’s without question,” but they should also organize “huge efforts to have observers and oversee ballots, oversee elections, make sure we have great lawyers in place.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
