LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) — 630 mail-in ballots received after election day and before last Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline are still locked in a plastic container in the Lancaster County election offices.

Those votes are still not counted.

“They’re still going to be counted and held separately and segregated,” Lancaster County Commissioner, Josh Parsons, said.

The majority of Lancaster County’s Election Board, which is chaired by two Republicans and one Democrat, has maintained that stance since Election Day when they decided to keep those ballots separate.

Parsons explained that in his view the Pennsylvania Department of State is telling them they did the right thing.

“We absolutely decided the right course of action,” Parsons told ABC27 News. “The proof of that is the Department of State is backpedaling and basically adopting Lancaster County’s course of action.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State confirmed they sent an email to counties on Monday, but they said that was to remind counties to keep the mail-in ballots received after Election Day seperate and not include the totals submitted to the election system.

Lancaster County was one of the first counties to announce they would take that step.

Dauphin, Lebanon, and York Counties, the counties to respond to ABC27 News’ request, said they would be doing the same.

“The message is we’re going to follow the law,” Parsons said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to do throughout and we’re going to continue to do it.”