Former President Donald Trump just lately informed his supporters that the USA ought to have a system to know outcomes on election evening.
Calling for “fast, truthful elections” at an Oct. 19 Pennsylvania rally, Trump stated, “We spend all this cash on machines, after which they announce, ‘We anticipate to have the outcomes like seven days after the election.’ If you happen to had paper ballots, you get (outcomes) at 10 p.m.”
Voting machines aren’t the explanation we don’t know election outcomes on election evening. Paper ballots additionally don’t have an effect on the timing. The vast majority of Americans will forged paper ballots through the 2024 election, as they’ve for almost 20 years.
Trump spokespeople didn’t reply to our request for remark.
The choice to machine tabulation is hand counts, which pose several logistical challenges. Ballots typically have a number of pages together with native, state and federal contests. Hand counts may result in longer timelines for producing election outcomes, which may run afoul of state legal guidelines that require official outcomes by a sure date. Research additionally reveals that hand counts can result in mistakes.
Latest social media posts additionally unfold falsehoods about election outcomes timing:
- Catturd, a conservative X account with 3 million followers, praised Florida’s fast counting in a post that stated, “Any Secretary of State in any state who will get on TV immediately and says it’ll take days to rely the votes is a cheater, a traitor, and must be arrested.”
- A Threads post stated, “BREAKING. The cheat has begun. The states of Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania have formally introduced that they won’t have election outcomes out there on Election Evening.” (We rated that declare False.)
- An Instagram post stated, “The one motive to preemptively announce that you just refuse to rely on election evening is if you happen to plan to make use of the additional days to cheat after studying precisely what number of ballots you want.”
Taking days to rely votes doesn’t sign wrongdoing. State legal guidelines dictate when mail ballots have to be obtained and when election officers can begin processing and tabulating them. In states with vital numbers of mail ballots or shut margins, these legal guidelines have an effect on how briskly votes will be counted and the way shortly media shops can undertaking a winner.
More than half of all states require that mail ballots be obtained by Election Day, however about 18 states will rely mail ballots if they’re obtained after Election Day however postmarked on or earlier than Election Day. Some state legal guidelines enable navy or abroad ballots to be received after Election Day.
States additionally observe legal guidelines about time allowed to confirm provisional ballots and to permit voters to “remedy” or repair their ballots — if, for instance, they forgot to signal the envelope. In states with shut margins or a major variety of mail ballots, these legal guidelines imply some states take longer to publish unofficial outcomes.
“That’s not a sign of any fraud,” Virginia Kase Solomón, president of Frequent Trigger, a public advocacy group, stated. “All of those processes are protected and safe and dealt with with an amazing quantity of care.”
State regulation often defines when native officers should end counting ballots. This ranges from one week after Election Day in 15 states, together with Pennsylvania, to 2 weeks in 21 states, together with the battleground states Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Arizona is among the many 9 states that enable three weeks, and some states enable for as much as 4 weeks.
The following step is that states certify outcomes, with deadlines in November and December.
“This variation and complexity of vote counting contributes to confusion that bolsters rumoring and conspiracy theorizing concerning the integrity of the method,” the Heart for an Knowledgeable Public on the College of Washington wrote. The middle defines “rumoring” as “the collaborative technique of producing, evolving, and spreading rumors.”
“There aren’t any official outcomes on Election Evening — there by no means have been,” Edward B. Foley, an Ohio State College constitutional regulation professor who focuses on elections, told PolitiFact by email in 2020. “Election Evening tallies are all the time simply preliminary, pending certification of the (checking) of returns underneath state regulation, which takes time. Each state has a regulation on this level.”
The presidential winner wasn’t recognized earlier than midnight in 1960, 1968, 1976, 2000, 2004 and 2016, historian Michael Beschloss tweeted earlier than the 2020 election. In 2020, the winner wasn’t recognized till a number of days after Election Day.
We contacted election officers in a number of battleground states to ask about elements that have an effect on the timing of unofficial and official outcomes. Right here’s what they informed us.
State regulation doesn’t allow counties to start opening mail ballots till 7 a.m. on Election Day.
In Philadelphia about one week earlier than Election Day 2024, there have been greater than 140,000 ballots “sitting in a warehouse ready to be counted,” Metropolis Commissioner Seth Bluestein stated.
Pennsylvania Republicans rejected a invoice that might have allowed earlier processing of mail ballots, as a result of they needed it tied to voter ID necessities. Against this, some states, together with Florida, enable mail poll processing weeks earlier than Election Day.
In 2020, Election Day was Tuesday, Nov. 3, and The Related Press stated Saturday Nov. 7 that Joe Biden won Pennsylvania and subsequently the presidency. (Information shops undertaking outcomes primarily based on their very own methodologies.)
Al Schmidt, secretary of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, stated Oct. 27 on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that 2020 was the primary election for which Pennsylvania had large-scale mail poll voting. Now, election officers have extra expertise with mail-in voting and have acquired further tools that helps to course of these ballots and poll envelopes. The proportion of Pennsylvania voters who will forged a mail poll this yr is anticipated to be decrease than 2020, Schmidt stated. In 2020, about 37% voted by mail.
This yr, “there are a number of elements that can, I believe, contribute to figuring out outcomes earlier, regardless that the regulation hasn’t modified,” Schmidt stated. However it has all the time come all the way down to “how shut an election is earlier than who gained and who misplaced.”
Nearly all of voters right here cast their ballot by mail.
Election officers start processing mail ballots upon receipt, and tabulating can start after processing. The primary outcomes are launched at 8 p.m. on election evening. Nonetheless, ballots which can be submitted at drop containers on Election Day will be processed solely after polls shut on Election Day.
“As a result of now we have exceptionally shut margins, Arizona calls its races later than different states do,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer told PBS in August.
The AP, nevertheless, called the 2020 race in Arizona earlier than some it referred to as different states, at 2:51 a.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Arizona expects to have official outcomes about 10 to 13 days after Election Day, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes stated Oct. 27 on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Much like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin election employees can start processing mail ballots as soon as polls open on Election Day.
“I anticipate that we are going to not be carried out till after midnight,” Milwaukee Election Fee Government Director Paulina Gutiérrez informed a PolitiFact accomplice, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The AP called the 2020 race in Wisconsin at 2:16 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Underneath a 2024 law, counties should report the outcomes of early and absentee votes by 8 p.m. Election Day. By 10 p.m., counties should report what number of uncounted ballots stay. That might speed up outcomes, however the secretary of state’s workplace just isn’t predicting when the unofficial rely will likely be full.
Native election officers are allowed to start out processing mail ballots — which incorporates opening envelopes and stacking ballots to organize them for counting — Oct. 21.
In 2020, the AP race call in Georgia was at 7:58 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 19.
In 2020, Michigan’s unofficial outcomes have been accomplished Wednesday evening, Nov. 4, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Oct. 20 on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” The AP called the 2020 race at 5:58 p.m EST.
A 2023 state law implies that election officers can start processing mail ballots earlier, which Benson stated makes her “optimistic we may see outcomes even sooner.” Cities with populations of at the very least 5,000 can course of and tabulate mail ballots beginning eight days earlier than Election Day.
Benson predicted that this yr’s unofficial outcomes may very well be out there by finish of day Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Nearly all of voters within the SIlver State forged their ballots by mail.
Nevada counties can start processing mail ballots 15 days before Election Day. At 8 a.m. Election Day, counties can begin tabulating early voting returns and mail poll returns obtained earlier than Election Day.
Clark County, which incorporates Las Vegas, usually has a big quantity of mail ballots arriving on or after Election Day. These are tabulated the day after Election Day.
The AP called the 2020 race in Nevada at 12:13 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 7.
State regulation permits mail poll processing to start out Oct. 1, however most individuals vote in individual.
In 2020, the AP didn’t name the North Carolina race till 3:49 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 13. However in 2020, the courts allowed the receipt of mail-in ballots nine days after the election. This yr, the deadline for mail-in ballots is 7:30 p.m. EST on Nov. 5.
The state elections board expects that 98%+ of ballots will likely be counted on election evening. Meaning it’s seemingly we’ll know who gained the state on election evening primarily based on unofficial outcomes except the race is extraordinarily shut or there are sufficient provisional ballots that would decide the winner.
Hurricane Helene, which devastated western North Carolina in late September, has prompted some changes in voting sites and rules, however the adjustments aren’t anticipated to have an effect on the timing of statewide outcomes. The Legislature ordered extra early voting sites in two western North Carolina counties.
This truth test was initially published by PolitiFact, which is a part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this truth test here.
