Union County elections board begins official primary vote canvass Friday

Union County’s primary results moved one step closer to official status Friday morning, but the count was still in the hands of the board of elections. The official computation and canvass of the May 19 general primary began at 10:15 a.m. in the Elections Office tabulation room at the Union County Government Center, 155 North 15th Street in Lewisburg, the stage where accepted ballots are reconciled and tallied before final certification.

That work followed a separate pre-canvass that started at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 19, in the same tabulation room, when absentee and mail-in ballots first began entering the county’s formal count. By 8 p.m. on Election Day, Union County had received 1,639 mail-in and absentee ballots under Act 88 reporting requirements, a number large enough to matter in any race where the margin stays tight after Election Day returns are posted.

The canvass is the part of the process where the numbers can still shift. Pennsylvania law defines canvass as the gathering of ballots after the final pre-canvass meeting and the counting, computing and tallying of votes reflected on those ballots. In practical terms, that means the totals seen on election night are not the last word when mailed ballots are still being processed and added to the record.

Union County’s mail ballot total was also higher than the comparable primary a year earlier. The county reported 1,286 mail-in and absentee ballots by 8 p.m. on Election Day in its May 20, 2025 Act 88 notice, underscoring how much of the 2026 primary count depended on ballots that were cast before voters ever reached the polls.

The broader statewide framework sets the timeline. Pennsylvania’s 67 county boards of elections run elections locally, and county boards are required to canvass and certify primary results by the third Monday after the election. The Pennsylvania Department of State says county result pages may remain unofficial for several weeks after an election and should not be relied on as official until certified by the Secretary of the Commonwealth. For Union County voters tracking close contests, that means the race is not settled simply because Election Day has passed or because a candidate leads in early returns.

Questions about the process continue to go through the Union County Elections & Voter Registration Office at the county government center. County election contacts list Laura Seward as deputy election director, with the office at 155 North 15th Street in Lewisburg and regular hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The important marker now is not who led first, but whether the canvass and certification confirm that the result is final.