In two swing states-Pennsylvania and Wisconsin-election workers are prohibited by state law from processing absentee and mail-in ballots until Election Day. More than 2 million voters in Pennsylvania have requested mail-in ballots this year, and more than 80 percent have already been returned. In other states, those returned ballots would be getting opened, verified, and counted already-and those totals would be quickly reported once the polls closed. In Pennsylvania, however, that won't happen.
The same thing is true in Wisconsin, where about 500,000 mail-in ballots have been requested. If either state's presidential election is close, which seems likely, it will likely be impossible to declare a winner on Tuesday. And if either state is critical to determining the overall winner, which also seems possible, the outcome of the election may remain uncertain for several days.
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Indeed, it takes weeks for the results of the election to be made official. That happens only after precinct, county, and state officials, in turn, verify tallies, conduct audits, and certify the results.
Still, having quick and accurate unofficial counts on Election Day itself helps to head off claims of malfeasance. That's why the smart thing to do is allow election workers to get a head start on mail-in ballots received prior to Election Day. In Florida, for example, processing of mail-in ballots begins weeks before Election Day, and the state has become an exemplar for reporting fast, accurate results while also giving residents a lot of flexibility in how they cast their votes.
Arizona and Nevada are two other crucial states where results could take a while to come in-even though both states allow mail-in ballots to be processed before Election Day. One big hurdle in Arizona is the length of the ballot itself, which means more time is needed to record the results on each ballot. Nevada, meanwhile, allows mail-in ballots to count if they are received within four days after the election (as long as they are postmarked by Election Day).
One final state to keep an eye on is North Carolina. A change in state law this year means that in-person early votes cannot be tabulated until the polls close on Election Day. State officials are warning that the change could delay the reporting of vote totals in some counties-though results that include the early vote should be reported by midnight on Election Day, according to the North Carolina Department of State.
https://reason.com/2024/11/...take-days/
