Franklin County election results breakdown: How did mail-ins play in GOP-heavy county?

Chambersburg Public Opinion

UPDATE: Just over 71% of Franklin County voters chose to re-elect President Donald Trump. Overall, Trump received 56,565 votes to Joe Biden's 21,994.

Biden, however, received more than 62% of the mail-in vote against Trump with 12,511 votes to 7,653. That trend is in line with what has been seen across Pennsylvania.

Almost 1.4% of voters chose the third-party candidate.

With the majority of ballots counted, 80,066 people voted this cycle - over 9,000 more than in 2016. Turnout was up about 3 points, at 79.3%. There were almost 8,000 more registered voters this time around.

“We are grateful for our county’s dedicated poll workers, 400+ polling place volunteers, County staff, and especially our voters who turned out in record numbers. Accuracy is our priority. We thank everyone for their understanding as we work through our election process to ensure that every vote is counted,” said Dave Keller, Chairman of the Franklin County Election Board, in a news release.

Today (Nov. 6), the elections workers are counting mail ballots received after Election Day and received by 5 p.m. today. Military absentee ballots and "hundreds" of provisional ballots will be counted on Tuesday, Nov. 10

Previous:

The 2020 presidential election is coming toward a predictable conclusion in Franklin County.

Every Republican on the ballot received at least 80% of the vote in their respective race from people who went to the polls on Tuesday. Although the first batch of mail-in and absentee ballots reported on Wednesday heavily favored Democrats, those votes did little to affect the big picture.

Republicans outnumber Democrats by almost 2 1/2 to 1 in the county.

Almost 59% of the county's 100,974 registered voters cast their ballot in-person, according to the unofficial results.

The turnout will increase and vote tallies will change as election workers count mail-in and absentee ballots, a process that started at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Lucy Folino, center, spent her first day as a poll worker handing out "I Voted" stickers at Greencastle Baptist Church (Antrim 2). Casting their ballots were Pam and Gary Shatzer. "They fought for our right to do this,"said Pam, explaining numerous family members have served in the military.

More:Record voting in Franklin Co.: 'It was like people were lining up for a rock concert'

As of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday - the latest available before the Public Opinion's deadline - the county had updated its unofficial results with 10,000 of those ballots, putting the turnout up to that point at 68.8%. The county elections office announced last week that it had issued about 24,000 mail-in and absentee ballots. It is worth noting that on Election Day, officials at around a dozen polling places visited by a reporter said a number of voters surrendered their mail-in ballots so that they could vote in person. They also reported an increase in provisional ballots due to voters claiming they never received their requested ballot.

In the race for president, 75.7% of voters chose to re-elect Donald Trump. He so far received 52,332 votes, compared to Democrat Joe Biden's 15,854. Biden, however, received almost double the number of mail-in ballots, with 6,321 to the president's 3,420.

Just more than 1,000 voters chose the third-party candidate or wrote in a name.

There were two contested races on the ballot for legislators who represent local citizens.

U.S. Rep. John Joyce, the Republican incumbent in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District, was winning almost 78% of the building Franklin County vote against the Democratic challenger, retired FBI agent Todd Rowley. Joyce, a dermatologist from Blair County, won 52,966 votes to Rowley's 15,009. Rowley had so far won 35% more mail-in votes, or 2,073 over Joyce.

Joyce handily won the 13th District overall, which also includes all or parts of Fulton, Adams, Bedford, Somerset, Huntingdon, Cumberland, Westmoreland and Blair counties.

More:John Joyce declared winner over Todd Rowley for Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District

More:PA-33 Senate race: Doug Mastriano fends off challenger Rich Sterner

In the Pennsylvania Senate, Republican incumbent Doug Mastriano had taken about 75% of votes reported by Wednesday afternoon. The military veteran's Democratic challenger, longtime Adams County educator and school administrator Rich Sterner received 11,917 votes. Sterner so far had 4,869 mail-in votes compared to 2,760 for Mastriano.

About three-quarters of voters supported the GOP candidates in statewide races:

Heather Heidelbaugh (74.2%) over Josh Shapiro for attorney general;
Timothy Defoor (75.66%) over Nina Ahmad for auditor general;
and Stacy L. Garrity (75.64%) over Joe Torsella for state treasurer.

Each of those races also had two third-party candidates on the ballot.

All of the county's state representatives were also up for election, but in uncontested races: Rep. Jesse Topper (78th), Rep. Rob Kauffman (89th), Rep. John Hershey (82nd) and Rep. Paul Schemel (90th).

Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.