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Luzerne County&rsquo;s election results won&rsquo;t be tallied tonight and possibly not until Thursday or later, officials said.
				The delay stems from the cumbersome process of tallying the high quantity of mail-in ballots, which could not begin until Election Day morning under state law, officials said.
				At 7 a.m., election workers were permitted to start opening outer envelopes that hold sealed secrecy envelopes containing the actual completed ballots.
				Before the ballots can be fed into one of the three central scanners/tabulators, election teams must shuffle the secrecy envelopes, open them, unfold the ballots and flatten out the paper creases.
				By shortly after 2 p.m., the office had opened and scanned approximately 8,000 ballots, officials said.
				There are tens of thousands to go, and the county will continue receiving them until 8 p.m.
				The bureau had received 38,379 mail-in ballots as of this afternoon, with about 3,300 arriving on Election Day alone, said county Election Director Shelby Watchilla.
				In total, 53,474 county voters requested mail-in ballots, which equates to a 72% return so far, Watchilla said. She expects more with two additional afternoon mail deliveries and steady voter ballot drop-off at the county-owned Penn Place building in Wilkes-Barre, which houses the election bureau.
				The mail-in ballots are being opened and scanned in a third-floor courtroom at the building.
				Although the mail-in ballots can be unsealed and tallied, no results can be released until after 8 p.m., Watchilla said.
				County Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik said the counting of mail-in ballots may wrap up around 10 p.m. this evening and resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
				County Manager C. David Pedri said multiple teams are simultaneously processing the mail-in ballots as quickly as possible. He had publicly informed county council of the possibility the tally could take several days.
				Voters can cast their ballots in person at 58 locations, which is a temporary reduction of 86 sites due to coronavirus pandemic-related challenges securing staffing and buildings.
				Pedri said he visited several polling locations today and found most with light turnout.

Luzerne County election tally won’t be completed tonight, officials say