As the nation held its breath in anticipation of Pennsylvania’s results, Chester County election officials tabulated votes in what they described as a smooth process in which poll workers from both parties collaborated, writes Joe Holden for CBS Philly.

Stress and anxiety are left at the door. The workers inside West Chester University’s Ehinger Gymnasium where the votes are being counted are doing their job with a single goal in mind – to get it right, said Deputy Director for Voter Services Alexis Barsamian.

This year, Pennsylvania is using paper ballots – which are considered to be the gold standard – to eliminate the possibility of any cyber-influence that could occur when using electronic or online voting platforms.

The whole process of opening, un-creasing, sorting and folding, and loading and scanning the ballots – all being done by hand – has been going on without a break since Tuesday at 7 a.m.

“There’s a very happy vibe in that room, just working,” said Barsamian. “Nothing political, nothing along those lines but just people really there, excited to be a part of something really greater than themselves.”

Rebecca Brain, Chester County’s Public Information Officer, said that the count of all in-person, mail-in, and absentee ballots received by 8 PM on Election Day has been completed.

Work that may include the pre-canvass, canvass, computation, provisional ballot review, and tabulation has resumed today. Military and overseas ballots are still able to be received and are not reflected in the county’s totals. Mail-in and absentee ballots postmarked by 8 PM on Election Day but delivered by USPS to Voter Services by 5 PM today (Nov. 6) are still able to be received and are not reflected in these totals.

Read more about the vote-counting process at CBS Philly here.

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