By Ed Rendell

This year, millions of Pennsylvania voters cast their ballots in the 2024 election, exercising their democratic right to make their choice known about the elected leaders they want to represent them.

Following this election, workers performed their duty of tabulating the ballots cast, a process that is performed for every election and every race held in the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, we see that some have decided that they do not want the voices of Pennsylvanians to be heard.

U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick’s campaign has filed a lawsuit to challenge thousands of ballots in Philadelphia, saying the ballots could “affect … the outcome of the election.” This process is alarming and a clear example of individuals working to prevent voters from being heard in hopes of achieving their preferred outcome.

The results cannot be determined until the counties finish tabulating the ballots. It is troubling that a candidate seeking the votes of Pennsylvanians would try to block their ballots from being included in the election. All candidates should be interested in ensuring that counties have the time necessary to complete this critical process.

As of noon on Sunday, November 10, nearly 7 million Pennsylvanians who cast their ballots had their votes counted. Mr. McCormick leads by just under 40,000 votes. There are more than 100,000 outstanding and uncounted ballots (including provisional ballots), many of which are from heavily Democratic counties.

I was the mayor of Philadelphia and the 45th governor of Pennsylvania. As governor, I oversaw the safety and security of our elections.

I can assure anyone reading this that this community conducts our elections in a manner beyond reproach. There can be no room for intimidation by those who would want to unfairly affect the outcome.

Let me be clear – Pennsylvanians deserve to be heard. This is true in every election and is even more important when individuals try to disrupt the process.

Tabulating votes takes time and we must be patient with this process. Our choices are safe. If there are questions about legitimate votes, the ballots are examined by the county to determine if the vote should be counted. This process happens after every election, and it’s what Pennsylvania voters deserve.

We have great citizens in every county in the Commonwealth working to do their jobs to deliver the exact results we always have. They must be able to give the citizens of Pennsylvania the legal freedom they deserve.

Pennsylvania is the birthplace of democracy, and it is where we will continue to protect the right of every Pennsylvanian to make their voice heard.

Ed Rendell was governor of Pennsylvania from 2003-2011 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1992-2000.