-Pennsylvania is a key battleground state
in the presidential election.
And across the state, citizens are starting to vote.
Like many Americans, voters in crucial counties like Erie
are making tough decisions about going to the polls in person
or sending in their ballots by mail.
-Can I just drop these off here? -You sure can.
-I'm dropping off some voter registration request forms.
My parents live with me. They're in their 80s.
And they're concerned about going and voting
with the COVID situation.
So we're just dropping those off so that they can vote at home.
-I'm planning on voting in person.
With the postal service changes coming in play,
I'm afraid that my vote would not get there
and be counted accurately.
I am a little concerned about COVID,
but I will do my best to protect myself and others.
-President Donald Trump has cast doubt over mail-in voting.
-Democrats are also trying to rig the election
by sending out tens of millions of mail-in ballots
using the China virus as the excuse
for allowing people not to go to the polls.
-But election officials say his allegations
of fraud are unfounded.
-There is some level of irresponsibility
for undermining the process of the elections
that we use in this country.
-And we are still empty.
-No matter how somebody applies for a ballot,
once they receive a ballot
and that ballot comes back to Erie County,
there's virtually almost no way
that somebody could vote more than once.
And the person that does vote, we verify their name,
their address, their signature --
all of that stuff has to be present
on the envelope that comes back, has to be secured,
and then we make sure
that the person is in the book that they voted
so they cannot double the vote at the polls.
-What election officials here are worried about
is how long it will take to count the mail-in ballots,
a process they can't start until the polls close.
-We had some challenges
this year instituting a new voting system,
particularly having the mail-in ballots,
not because the process was a problem,
but the manual labor
that followed that process was the challenge.
-During the primaries, it took them 10 days
to count 33,000 ballots.
That number could more than double in the general election.
So Erie has asked the state
to allow them to start opening envelopes
and preparing them to be counted,
a process known as precanvassing,
before election day.
But so far, the request has not been approved.
-We anticipate that under the current process,
unless precanvassing is changed,
it will probably take 7 to 10 days
before we get the final result.
-I asked for a mail-in ballot. I never got it.
-They just went out last week.
So you still might be. -I want to vote.
-Okay.
I'll get you someone to help you.
Okay?
-Okay, thank you. -One concern voters
have in Pennsylvania is the secrecy envelope.
This is an extra envelope that voters have to include
when returning their mail-in ballot.
If that extra secrecy envelope isn't included,
the vote will be void.
-Just bringing those in. -Even with all the changes,
Anderson says he's confident in the process.
What worries him is what could happen on election day.
-One of the bigger things that is becoming a concern
and building is this idea of potential,
you know, I think violence is too strong of a word,
but the threatening presence of people at polling precincts
to attempt to turn away voters
or send some kind of a threatening message
to not actually come out and vote.
Now, we certainly also agree that anybody can come out
and support a candidate or protest as they want
because they have that First Amendment right to do that.
But not to do it in a way that threatens
somebody else's rights.