About 19,000 Luzerne County mail-in ballots had been unsealed by 2:40 p.m. Tuesday and prepared for counting on election night, said Board of Elections Chairwoman Denise Williams.

There are more than 20,000 still to be processed.

The process of opening the envelope and scanning the ballots – known as pre-canvassing – began Tuesday morning at the county's Penn Place Building in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

By law, counties cannot begin uploading absentee ballot results — known as “canvassing” — until polls close at 8 p.m

Observation of pre-election canvassing and canvassing is limited to officials and candidates of political parties or their representatives, and all observers must have observer certificates obtained from the election office, officials said.

The state's daily absentee voting report Tuesday morning showed the county had logged receipt of 39,248 ballots, which is the source of the statement that more than 20,000 need to be processed.

However, Williams said Tuesday morning's figure does not include several thousand ballots and those arriving in the mail and at the ballot box at Penn Place today.

She expects the county to receive about 44,000 ballots by the 8 p.m. deadline.

The county used 35 to 40 workers for pre-screening, Williams said.

“They clog up,” Williams said. “We process, process, process.”

District manager Romilda Crocamo said the group includes many experienced workers and is keeping a close eye on progress before acquisition.

“If I need more help I will, but so far I've been told we're really making progress,” Crocamo said.

Both county party leaders — Republican Chairman Gene Ziemba and Democratic Chairman Thomas Shubilla — said they had reviewed the pre-selection process and continued to monitor progress.

The county must release an unofficial list of ballots, including mail-in ballots, by midnight on election night to accept a state election integrity grant.

The state laws authorizing this grant also require participating counties to remain in place and continue counting until the unofficial count is complete, rather than pausing the count and resuming it the next day, officials said.

Postal ballots must be physically present at the election office by 8:00 p.m. on election night; the postmark does not count.

The only option is the mailbox at Penn Place, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wilkes-Barre.

Absentee voters who received their ballot but did not return it may also bring the ballot package that was sent to them (ballots and envelopes) to their polling place so that it can be canceled so that they can vote using the ballot marking machine at their polling place.