A polling place in California.Photo: Getty
All eyes are onthe midterm elections, which will determine what parties control the U.S. House and Senate. But even astelevision network anchorsprepare for a long night of vote-counting, Americans likely won’t know the results of all the elections on Tuesday.
In fact, some of the most hotly contested races — including those in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania — could require multiple days of vote-counting for a variety of reasons.
Some MAGA Republicans have signaled that they might not accept election results if vote-counting comes too late, claiming that late election results signify something nefarious. But the reality is that vote-counting is in some cases legally required to begin only after all the ballots have been received.
In Pennsylvania, for instance, officials arenot allowed to begin processing absentee ballotsuntil Tuesday morning — a process that will require removing thousands of ballots from their envelopes and individually scanning them.
“By the way, counting slow does not mean broken,“CBS Evening NewsanchorNorah O’Donnelltold PEOPLE in a recent interview. “That’s the waythe Republican legislature in Pennsylvania wanted it, to count slow, because they have to count mail in ballots on Election Day.”
Speaking to reporters via Zoom this week, Pennsylvania’s acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman asked for “patience.”
“Official results will be available within a few days,” Chapman said, adding that even unofficial results likely wouldn’t be available on Election Day,ABC 6 reported. “This delay does not mean anything nefarious is happening. It simply means that the process is working as it is designed to work in Pennsylvania and that election officials are doing their job to count every vote.”
The state is home to one of the most talked-about Senate races in 2022: a matchup between Democratic Lt. Gov.John Fettermanand MAGA-supporting celebrity doctorMehmet Oz.
Fetterman, who had the strong advantage in the race from day one, saw his wide lead slowly shrink in recent weeks as the election drew near, with Oz officially surpassing him in polling averages for the first time this week.
Georgia saw historic delays in 2020, largely due to the number of absentee ballots cast amid the pandemic.
The state has already seen record-shatteringearly voter turnoutamong those eager to weigh in on both a gubernatorial race and the race for Senate, which pits incumbent Democrat Rev.Raphael Warnockagainst former NFL playerHerschel Walker.
In Arizona, Secretary of StateKatie Hobbs— who is currently running for governor against MAGA RepublicanKari Lake— has already said election results arenot going to be knownon Tuesday.
Alaska may be the last state to announce its official elections, due to its ranked-choice voting method. With ranked-choice, if no candidate wins the majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, with the process continuing until two candidates are left and the one with the most votes wins.
Check your voter registration, locate your polling place, and make a voting plan atVote.orgto ensure that your voice is heard this election season.
source: people.com
