As I write, Americans are flocking to their polling places, marking oval pieces of paper, marking touchscreens, using ballot-marking devices, and other methods. The method records choices for president, Congress, state legislatures, and many other offices and voting criteria. around it 78 million Americans Votes are cast before Election Day, and many are cast by mail. Each state uses a different system depending on its preferences, and has different rules for when ballots can be counted and how they can be recounted if necessary. If that sounds like it adds a level of complexity to vote tallying, you’re right. So perhaps we all need to be a little patient until the results of this year’s elections are determined.
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Voting in key counties delayed by two weeks
“The outcome of the presidential election could hinge on Maricopa County, with election officials warning it could take nearly two weeks to count all the votes,” the Phoenix CBS affiliate said. Ta. reported last week. “With more than 2.5 million eligible voters, Maricopa County is the third largest voting precinct in the country and one of the most competitive in the race for the White House. We expect it to take 13 days.” The number of votes is consistent with last year. ”
Arizona is a battleground state that supported Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Less than 11,000 votes. That is, the state’s 2.5 million 4,368,000 voters Some counties, which have already been warned that vote counting will take longer, may have to wait a while for the most important election results.
Alternatively, Americans may have to wait for Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or one of the other battleground states. Even if the presidential election is decided relatively quickly, control of Congress could remain in limbo pending the results of several active House elections.
Voting procedures vary by country
How votes are cast, processed, and counted varies from state to state, and even from state to state. According to verified votespromotes the “responsible use of technology in elections,” and 69.9 percent of U.S. voters live in jurisdictions that use hand-written paper ballots. An additional 25.1% use ballot marking devices that present choices to voters electronically and print human-readable paper ballots that are tabulated. 5% utilize fully digital direct record electronic systems, with results stored in computer memory.
meanwhile 78 million votes Just because it’s cast before Election Day doesn’t mean it’s already been counted. Some states, including Arizona, count them upon arrival. According to It is submitted to the National Conference of State Legislatures, but the results must be kept secret as they are punishable by law. These votes can be cast at early voting locations or by mail. Especially in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. votingpedia memoPostal voting is the main voting method. But other states, including battleground states like Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, cannot begin counting until Election Day. Early voting in these states makes voting easier for voters, but not necessarily for election officials.
In other words, Maricopa County’s delays were not the result of a large number of early-submitted ballots, but rather a combination of particularly long 2024 ballots and the processing of “early” ballots that were held until the last minute and then canceled. This is due to the laborious process of verification. Election day.
Due to the difficulty of voting this year, there may be a large number of last-minute votes that are not early voting. In Yavapai County, north of Maricopa, we counted 13 ballot measures across the state, in addition to various federal, state and local offices. Like other jurisdictions in the state, we have regional measures. of What will be on my ballot? A “brochure” is like an old-fashioned telephone directory.
“I thought it might take a little while” to fill out, Sophia Tesch said washington post About voting in Arizona. “It took 35 minutes.”
Long ballots have two pages and must be fed separately into a tabulation machine to be counted. If the feed rate is too fast, the machine may jam. It requires extra time and patience.
It’s easier to cast mail-in votes than to count them.
Now, imagine this scenario playing out across the country, especially now that voting by mail is growing in popularity. Voting early from home makes things a lot easier for voters, but it also adds complexity on the receiving end, especially when the ballot is like a Scantron test paper.
“Counting mail-in ballots will take longer because the process includes additional layers of processing and verification, and in some states cannot begin until Election Day.” timeSimone Shah I wrote For the election. “The ballot itself must be unsealed, and verification may require a signature or photo ID check.”
Additionally, some states, including: nevadaaccept the following ballots: with postmark By election day. That means not all ballots may be counted until the end of the week. What better way to add an extra thrill to an already precipice political season, right?
The fun may continue with the recount.
And, of course, there’s the fact that this presidential election is as close to a 50-50 race as we’ve ever seen among political candidates, and some of the down-ballot races are just as close. . Many states have autonomous driving recount the law If the total number of votes is within a close margin (0.5%) arizona and pennsylvania). In other states, candidates can request a recount if the margin is close to 0.5% in some states. georgia1 percent north carolina).
With partisan tensions at an all-time high in the U.S., races where the vote count is close and the outcome could hinge on the interpretation of contested ballots have no opportunity to request a recount. It is thought that no one will miss out. This is especially likely given the shaky confidence in the electoral process. Roughly 60 percent of Americans are “very or very confident that votes cast in presidential elections will be accurately counted by election officials in their state or local area.” According to To AP-NORC. Nationally, this will drop to 48%.
That said, the polls are probably wrong, and this election will be decided by such a large margin that delays in counting in some areas won’t matter. In that case, a recount would be completely meaningless. A clear victory could settle questions about who wins, who loses, and who takes the presidency.
But we’ll probably have to wait a while to see how this election goes.
