- Whereas rumors abounded {that a} delay in the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election can be a sign of widespread voting fraud, in actuality attainable delays would almost definitely be the consequence of expanded voting entry within the nation. In 2024, 97% of the U.S. inhabitants had entry to early-voting choices, together with mail-in and absentee voting.
- States had completely different deadlines to incorporate mail-in ballots within the ultimate tally. Some states demanded a postmark by Election Day, whereas others required mail-in ballots to reach by Election Day. Ballots postmarked on Election Day will essentially arrive within the following days, delaying the depend.
- In 2024, the overwhelming majority of states didn’t enable mail-in ballots to be counted earlier than Election Day, together with 5 of the seven “battleground” states.
- In conclusion, a delay within the outcomes of the 2024 presidential election wouldn’t robotically point out fraud.
As Election Day 2024 approached within the U.S., suspicions mounted concerning the electoral course of. Web customers — largely those that supported former President Donald Trump — started to claim {that a} delay in reporting voting totals should point out fraud (archived):
This X publish, which had garnered 4.5 million views and 130,000 likes as of this writing, was echoed by another, which asserted that the one purpose for a delay can be “dishonest” (archived):
A 3rd post backed up that declare, utilizing electoral counting programs from different nations, together with India and France (archived):
However as we’ll see, tallying votes can take time as a result of completely different states comply with completely different procedures to course of and depend mail-in and absentee votes. Because of this delayed outcomes will not be essentially an indicator of fraud.
Deadlines for Mail-In Ballots
Whereas solely three states (Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire) don’t enable early voting, by 2024 all states allowed absentee and mail-in voting — not less than for sure causes. Because of this 97% of voters within the U.S. had an choice to vote earlier than Election Day, both on the polls or by mail, in line with the Center for Election Innovation and Research. The quantity of mail-in ballots throughout the nation has dramatically elevated since 2000. Nonetheless, whereas most states have agreed to increase entry to voting, their procedures to deal with mail-in or absentee ballots diverse broadly through the 2024 election cycle.
First, be aware that voters should respect deadlines to vote by mail, and people deadlines are completely different from state to state. For instance, some settle for ballots postmarked by Election Day. In different phrases, these ballots needn’t arrive by Election Day to be counted, however days after, delaying the counting. Different states, nevertheless, require mail-in ballots to reach by Election Day. Analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures confirmed what the foundations have been in several states in 2024:
- Eighteen states and the District of Columbia required that ballots be postmarked on or earlier than Election Day (in addition to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which wouldn’t have votes within the Electoral Faculty). This group included Nevada, one of many seven so-called battleground states that can assist decide the results of the election.
- The remaining 32 states required ballots to reach by Election Day.
Because of this in not less than 18 states, counting would almost definitely not be performed by the tip of Election Day.
Processing and Counting Votes
After arriving, mail-in votes have to be processed after which counted. Processing can embrace the verification of signatures, in addition to the removing of ballots from envelopes and flattening, to organize for scanning. The NCSL explains on its web site that some states enable the ballots to be scanned, however ballot staff don’t request the tally from voting machines till Election Day, for instance.
The overwhelming majority of states (43 of them) enable processing to start out earlier than Election Day, however seven (Alabama, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia allow processing to start out solely on Election Day. Two of those states — Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — are battleground states.
As for counting, some states enable it to start out earlier than Election Day, however the overwhelming majority don’t, together with a lot of the seven battleground states. On Oct. 22, 2024, the NCSL released an updated report exhibiting which states can begin counting earlier than Election Day and which can’t. On this listing, we now have emphasised the seven battleground states:
- Twelve states enable counting to start earlier than Election Day: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Virginia and Utah.
- Twenty-three states enable counting to start on Election Day, earlier than polls shut: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
- Fourteen states and the District of Columbia enable counting to start after polls shut on Election Day: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington.
Connecticut leaves the timeline on the discretion of native registrars.
Due to these necessities and the character of presidential elections within the U.S., it’s solely attainable that the end result of the 2024 election is not going to be decided by the tip of Election Day. Due to this fact, if a delay happens because the nation tallies the votes in November 2024, it is not going to imply that fraud has taken place.
As Snopes has reported on varied events, rumors of systematic voting fraud in 2020 and rumors of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections have been repeatedly debunked.
