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HARRISBURG -- Election officials worked through a mountain of still-uncounted ballots Wednesday after a Pennsylvania primary that was held amid civil unrest, a pandemic, the introduction of some new voting machines and the debut of mail-in balloting that pushed county bureaus to their limits.
The result of the highest-profile contests on the ballot were a foregone conclusion: President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, uncontested for their parties' nominations, won their Tuesday primaries.
With the flood of mail-in votes still being counted, The Associated Press called four races in which incumbents lost, all of them in Democratic legislative primaries. Beaten were Sen. Larry Farnese and Reps. Maria Donatucci and Roni Green of Philadelphia, and Rep. Adam Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh, brother of the former mayor.
AP has not called a number of races where the contest was close or had a large number of votes yet to be counted, or both. Those races included several where incumbent state lawmakers trailed in the count Wednesday afternoon and the only competitive primary among the statewide races, a six-way race in the Democratic primary for auditor general.
Candidates in the other two other statewide races on the ballot, attorney general and treasurer, were uncontested.
All 18 of the state's members of the U.S. House are seeking reelection, although only two had primary opposition.
Both of them, Pittsburgh Democrat Mike Doyle and Bucks County Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, won their primaries. In the Allentown-based 7th District, Lisa Scheller won the Republican primary to take on Democratic Rep. Susan Wild in the November election, while Christine Finello won the Democratic primary to challenge Fitzpatrick and Jim Bognet won a six-way Republican primary to take on Democratic Rep. Matthew Cartwright in northeastern Pennsylvania.
In the Legislature, all 203 House seats and half the 50-member Senate are up this year. Two state House members, Democrat Carolyn Comitta of Chester County and Republican Cris Dush of Jefferson County, won contested primaries for open Senate seats.
Primary voters also picked delegates and alternates for the two major parties' presidential nominating conventions.