Donald Trump beats Joe Biden in Pennsylvania bakery's cookie contest that nailed last 3 presidential elections
A Pennsylvania bakery, which has successfully predicted the election results of the last three presidential polls with its cookie poll, has revealed President Donald Trump as their contest winner ahead of Election Day. Lochel’s Bakery of Hatboro, which calls on the winner based on the number of cookies sold for the candidates, released its final poll figures a day before the United States finds out who will win the 2020 presidency, Trump, or Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Trump led Biden handily in the cookie poll with 27,903 red Trump cookies sold compared to just 5,114 blue Biden cookies. The bakery's owner, Kathleen Lochel, in a statement to Fox News, said: "We had one guy drive twice from Staten Island for them." The owner explained that each cookie sold during the contest is counted as a vote and that she has been conducting the poll since the last three elections, in 2008, 2012, and 2016. Lochel revealed that her bakery keeps a tally of the number of cookie sold for each candidate and then eventually added them up to reveal the final numbers after the election is called.
Lochel, this year, however, updated the voters on the tally as the cookies were being counted after witnessing a significant surge in Trump cookie sales after the president's son, Eric Trump, tweeted about the bakery's contest. Eric reportedly also traveled to Hatboro to meet Lochel and placed his own order for Trump cookies. Lochel, however, was not present at the time, but her husband was. The owner told Patch that her husband then gave Eric a tour of the bakery: "He just showed up to buy cookies unannounced. He was most respectful and we welcome everyone regardless of political affiliation."
The final cookie tally of the contest, however, will be revealed on Tuesday night, November 3. "We plan on tallying them up tomorrow night, to do our final tally. But right now, Donald Trump is still in the lead … we’ve sold about 28,000 [Trump] cookies to 5,000 [of Biden’s]," she told Fox News.
Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state for both Trump and Biden, which can make or break their election victory chances. The latest reports state that an "overwhelming majority" of ballots are expected to be counted by Friday, November 6, despite the polls closing at 8 pm ET on Tuesday, according to Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Secretary Kathy Boockvar. The delay in vote counting comes as the US Supreme Court announced its decision to allow state election officials to continue counting absentee ballots received by Friday this week. The Keystone State, unlike some other battleground states, does not permit counting to begin before 7 am on Tuesday, resulting in an increase in the total wait time.
Boockvar, in a statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, however, stated that the wait for the final voting numbers could even continue beyond Friday to the weekend. Nearly half of the state's voters are reportedly expected to be voting by absentee ballot amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Although the final vote could extend a few days, the final deadline to certify the election results is November 23.