Rumors circulated that any delays in the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election might indicate widespread voting fraud; in reality, any delays may simply reflect expanded voter access: in 2024 alone 97% of American population had access to early-voting options such as mail-in and absentee voting options.
States had differing deadlines to include mail-in ballots in the final count; some required postmark by Election Day; in others it required mail-ins arriving by that same date; but even postmarked ballots will likely arrive by subsequent days and thus delay counting of your mail in ballot.
In 2024, most states did not permit mail-in ballots to be counted prior to Election Day – including five “battleground” states – meaning any delays in results of this presidential election wouldn’t necessarily indicate fraud.
As U.S. voters cast ballots for president and other candidates in November 2024, reports circulated online alleging fraud due to unofficial vote totals not available as promised on election night in certain locations.
One post (archived) by an advocate of Republican former President Donald Trump suggested that anticipated delays for vote count totals in several swing states suggested Democrats were “going to use those extra days as leverage against Kamala Harris,” suggesting she might attempt to steal her election by using those days more strategically than anticipated:
As of this writing, this post had amassed more than 4.7 million views and 131,000 likes on Facebook alone, prompting another user to assert that any delays must be due to cheating (archived link here):
Thirdly, another post made similar claims using electoral counting systems from India and France (archived):
As we shall see, tallying votes isn’t always instantaneous as each state follows different procedures to process mail-in and absentee ballots – which means delayed results don’t necessarily indicate fraud.
Deadlines for Mail-In Ballots
Only three states (Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire) do not permit early voting; all other states permitted absentee and mail-in voting as an option at least for certain voters by 2024; meaning 97% of Americans could cast ballots either at polling places or via mail according to research from the Center for Election Innovation and Research; since 2000 the amount of mail ballots nationwide has seen an exponential rise despite most states agreeing to expand access but their procedures for managing mail or absentee ballots varied widely during 2024 elections cycle.
At least 18 states and DC required ballots be postmarked by Election Day; Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands also comply, although their votes do not count towards elective college voting. Nevada was part of this group that includes so-called battleground states like Pennsylvania that could help determine how the election pans out.
All other states required ballots be delivered before Election Day.
At least 18 states would likely not finish counting by election night’s close, leading them to postpone it further than necessary.
Processing and Counting Votes
Mail-in votes must first be processed prior to being counted. Processing may involve verifying signatures as well as taking measures such as taking out ballots from envelopes and flattening for scanning; as noted on NCSL’s website, some states permit these ballots to be scanned but poll workers won’t request the count until Election Day itself, for instance.
Most states (43 out of 44) permit processing to begin prior to Election Day; however, seven (Alabama, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania South Dakota West Virginia Wisconsin and District of Columbia) and Wisconsin have provisions allowing processing to commence only on election day itself; two of these battleground states — Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — offer only limited early processing opportunities.
Regarding counting, some states permit early counting before Election Day but most don’t, including most of the seven battleground states. On Oct 22, 2024, NCSL released an updated report detailing which states can start pre-Election Day counting while which cannot. We highlighted in particular those seven battleground states on our list:
Twelve states allow early voting counts: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas Montana Nebraska Nevada New Jersey Virginia Utah.
Twenty-three states permit counting to commence on Election Day before polls close: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Missouri New York North Carolina Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Fourteen states and Washington D.C. permit counting to begin immediately upon poll closing on Election Day: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota Mississippi New Hampshire New Mexico North Dakota Rhode Island South Dakota Vermont Washington
Due to this requirement and the nature of presidential elections in America, it’s entirely likely that the 2024 election won’t be decided at the conclusion of Election Day; therefore a delay while counting votes won’t signal fraud as such.
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