Pennsylvania, one of the most important presidential battlegrounds, is among the handful of states that did not begin processing absentee ballots until Election Day morning. That abridged timeline is one of the reasons the state isn’t expected to have every vote counted until Friday, at the earliest. MORE: Election Day 2020 live updates: Judge orders mail inspectors to sweep for ballots It’s the result of deadlocked negotiations between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans who control of the state legislature. When Pennsylvania approved so-called "no-excuse" absentee mail ballots last fall -- meaning any voter can request one without citing a reason -- the law didn’t allow officials to begin canvassing mail ballots until polls close on election night, according to Lisa Schaefer, the executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.