NBC10’s Miguel Martinez-Valle reports the morning after Philadelphia City Commissioners announced that voter turnout in Philadelphia was the highest since 1984. Here is what comes next as the results still need certification.
The final vote tally from the Nov. 3 election in Philadelphia sets it in stone: this was the highest voter turnout in the city since 1984.
More than 749,000 voters cast ballots in Philadelphia, out of 1.1 million registered voters in the city. The 68% turnout was the highest in decades, according to one of the three city commissioners.
The final uncertified Philly vote totals show President-elect Joe Biden received 604,175 votes, or 81% of Philly's presidential votes, to Trump's roughly 18% or 132,870 votes.
Biden received about 20,000 more Philly votes than Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton did in 2016.
Trump also improved from four years ago, receiving about 24,000 more Philly votes in 2020 than in 2016.
In a meeting Tuesday night, after Supervisor of Elections Garrett Dietz read the final vote tallies into the record, Commissioners Lisa Deeley, Al Schmidt and Omar Sabir thanked all the workers who worked on this election, full-time and temporary.
"This has been an extraordinary election unlike any other I have ever witnessed," Deeley said, noting she's followed elections since she was 7 years old. "...While the storm raged around us, some days it felt like we were in the middle of a three-ring media circus."
But despite the fierce pressure and attention, they got the job done, and counted every vote accurately.
The City Commission will vote next week on whether to send the results to the state for certification. A deputy elections commissioner said earlier Tuesday that the vote counting would be wrapped up by the afternoon.
"The results are unofficial for five days and then the board can certify the results," an official said.
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The Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections statewide, will do the final certification by the Nov. 23 deadline. All 67 counties are required to submit their results to Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar by the deadline.
Also Tuesday, attorneys for President Donald Trump, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, were in a federal court in central Pennsylvania fighting the results of the Nov. 3 presidential contest.
Giuliani made numerous unsubstantiated claims about the vote counting in Philadelphia. No evidence of any wrongdoing has been presented by Trump campaign attorneys during court hearings or outside of courtrooms.
