What States Are Waiting to Count Mail in Ballots

How battleground states process mail ballots -- and why information technology may mean delayed results

No thing what the rules are, no state releases results until after polls close.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that absentee ballots in Ohio must exist postmarked the twenty-four hour period before Election Twenty-four hour period in order to be counted -- if received past November. 13 -- and in Texas, absentee ballots postmarked by Ballot Day can be counted if received past five p.1000. on Nov. four.

Every American would exist wise to take the mantra "patience is a virtue" to centre as the results start coming in on election night this November because it may be a lot slower than they've become accustomed to.

Because of the pandemic, more voters are opting to cast their ballots by mail service this year. While the expanded admission and increased use of mail-in voting is good for voters, information technology does create hardships for already strained election officials in many states, including key battlegrounds.

And every ballot -- or nearly every ballot -- may demand to be counted in the states where the presidential contest is expected to be the closest earlier anyone can responsibly brand a projection on who won the country.

There are battleground states that were meliorate equipped to handle the expected influx in mail-in ballots. Arizona and Florida, for example, already had a significant portion of the electorate that voted by mail prior to this twelvemonth, and their state laws reflected that -- giving officials more time to process those ballots ahead of Election 24-hour interval.

But others, like the three "Bluish Wall" states President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2016, take laws that preclude election officials from processing returned absentee or mail ballots until the day of the election. But one of those states, Michigan, has inverse the timeline for this election, and the secretary of state nevertheless said, "It's not enough."

Near twoscore million voters have returned mail ballots so far this ballot, according to the Academy of Florida's Michael McDonald, an good on American elections who is tracking early on voting numbers.

That'south a lot of mail ballots to exist processed and counted. Below is a guide to when absentee ballots can be candy in the slew of potentially competitive states, and when officials conceptualize having results.

Arizona

Voting by mail is very familiar to Arizona voters. The state maintains a permanent early voting list, and anyone on that list is automatically mailed a ballot every election the voter is eligible to vote in. Roughly 80% of Arizonans vote past mail usually and the state's laws effectually processing and counting these ballots reflects that.

Election officials can begin processing returned ballots immediately upon receipt. This includes signature verification, which is done by comparing the signature on the ballot to the signature in the voter'south registration record, but also by comparing the signature to any other known ballot documents on file.

After signature verification is complete, officials tin split the ballots from their envelopes and ready them for tabulation. Tabulation can begin 14 days before the ballot, later the completion of logic and accurateness testing for the relevant equipment.

While tabulation could begin two weeks ahead of Nov. 3, no results tin can be released until one 60 minutes after polls close on Nov. iii, and all ballots, including those sent by mail, are due past then. In Arizona, polls shut at vii p.chiliad. local fourth dimension, only if a voter is in line at that time, they are allowed to vote.

Only this spring beginning on counting these ballots doesn't guarantee that Arizona'south races will exist chosen on election night. If postal service ballots are returned to polling places, they won't be counted until after the in-person voters' ballots are counted. Too, any voter casting a mail election has upwards to five days afterward the election to correct or ostend their signature, should officials notice their original signature unsatisfactory.

"As much as we all desire to see the winner on election night in those shut races, that's merely not going to happen," Secretarial assistant of State Katie Hobbs said during a mid-October press conference, according to KTAR News. "We are focused on being authentic. We will be accurate. … These things take time."

In 2018, the Associated Press didn't call the race for Senate between Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema until Nov. 12 -- six days later the election. Also that year, the AP chosen the race for secretary of state besides early, declaring Republican Steve Gaynor won when actually, Democrat Hobbs won by about xx,000 votes, co-ordinate to the official canvass.

It'southward indicative of what's known equally a "red mirage" or "blue shift" -- as more mail ballots and provisional ballots become counted, Republicans' leads fade, though it doesn't necessarily modify the effect. According to the U.South. Elections Projection, for united states that register voters by political party, Democrats are outpacing Republicans in returned mail ballots past almost ii to one.

That data suggests there's a good run a risk more states than Arizona will see a "blueish shift." If it happens, think that it'south non a sign something has gone awry -- the vote is merely still being counted.

Florida

In Florida, county election supervisors are able to conduct signature verification, which doesn't entail opening any envelopes, upon receipt of a voter'due south mailed ballot.

Country constabulary stipulates that canvassing of mail ballots cannot begin whatever earlier than 7 a.m., 22 days before the election, but Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, issued an executive club giving election supervisors even more time to process those ballots for both the chief in August and the general ballot, noting the anticipated increase in Floridians voting this way.

Showtime on October. 12, officials could sheet post ballots more than two weeks before, beginning on Sept. 24, following the completion of logic and accuracy testing for tabulation machines and equipment.

This pre-election process includes everything through vote tabulation. Election workers will check voters' signatures if that hasn't been done already, open up the mailing envelopes the ballots were sent in, mix the secrecy envelopes nevertheless containing the ballots to get in impossible to know which ballot came from which mailing envelope, put the ballot into a tabulation machine and then begin tabulating the results.

Those results, however, cannot be released until polls close. Election workers face getting slapped with a third-degree felony accuse if they do.

While poll closing time is 7 p.grand. EST in most of the state, the western part of the Florida panhandle is in the Central Standard Time zone, so the state volition non be releasing results earlier 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. Private counties, notwithstanding, can report their results every bit presently as polls close in their respective county.

Under state law, by seven p.g. the day before the election, county election supervisors are required to upload into the county's election direction system, the results from all early on voting and postal service ballots that have already been canvassed and tabulated.

On Election Mean solar day, no later than 30 minutes past poll endmost fourth dimension, counties must report all tabulated early voting and past mail results to the Department of Country. Following that initial report, counties are required to update results at to the lowest degree every 45 minutes until all results, excluding provisional ballots, are reported.

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Secretarial assistant of State Laurel One thousand. Lee said she was "very optimistic that (Florida) will have preliminary election results on ballot night," specifically noting the jump start election officials take with canvassing mail-in ballots.

"Many are already doing that in earnest, then much of that work is completed before Election Twenty-four hours arrives," she said.

Lee also pointed out that all ballots, including postal service ballots, must be received by election officials by the time polls close on Election Day.

"One of the consequences of that (deadline) is that we are in a much better position than many other states to understand our preliminary results on election," she said.

Iowa

Unlike Arizona and Florida, there is no signature verification procedure in Iowa. When absentee ballots are received by county election officials, they are securely stored until it'south time for processing.

Officials aren't able to start that until Oct. 31. Unremarkably, officials can't start opening ballots until the Monday before an ballot, simply Secretary of Land Paul Pate issued an emergency directive, which was approved past country legislators, to allow it brainstorm earlier. Iowa opted to proactively mail every active registered voter an awarding to request an absentee ballot for this election.

Beginning Sat, a bipartisan team of ballot workers open the outer return envelopes and remove the inner secrecy envelopes, which incorporate the ballots. Counting the ballots begins in one week -- the day before the election -- but no results tin be released until afterward polls close at ix p.1000. local fourth dimension statewide in Iowa.

Kevin Hall, a spokesperson for the secretary of state's office, said results will start being released an hour after polls close and absentee ballots volition exist the first reported on election night.

Iowa allows ballots received afterwards Election Day to be counted, as long as they are postmarked by November. 2, only Hall said they wait most ballots to arrive past Nov. 3.

Georgia

Normally, but well-nigh 5% of voters cast absentee past postal service ballots in Georgia, so the Country Election Lath passed an emergency dominion to allow county election officials more than time to procedure the expected influx of mail ballots this ballot.

While canton election officials were able to verify signatures and voter registrations upon ballot receipt, normally, absentee ballots tin't be farther processed or opened until Election Day. But this year, kickoff xv days before the 2020 full general election, officials were allowed to open returned absentee ballots, remove those ballots from both the outer and inner secrecy sleeve envelope, and browse the ballots using a ballot scanner auto.

At to the lowest degree three ballot workers must be present at all times during this processing and officials are prohibited from doing any tabulation of results until polls shut at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3. At that point, tabulation is simply pressing a button.

During a news briefing on October. nineteen, the start day counties could start processing absentee ballots, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger predicted that the timeline for races to be called in Georgia may not exist too far off from what voters have go accustomed to.

"Many of the races won't be that close, so we'll have results on Tuesday night. Information technology's really the ones that are really, really tight," Raffensperger said. "If the race is really shut, information technology may take until Wednesday, until really we can say, this is who the winner (is)."

More than than 1.vii million Georgians have applied to vote absentee by mail, and about 950,000 ballots have been returned and accepted and then far. Every county has at least one drib box bachelor for voters who don't want to postal service back their ballots and ballots must exist received by 7 p.m. on November. three.

Maine

Upon receipt, municipal clerks in Maine can verify signatures on the outer envelopes of returned absentee ballots by matching the signatures on the related applications. After that, those ballots are locked in a election box and kept in a secure surface area until officials can get-go processing them farther.

Because of an executive lodge issued past Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, clerks are allowed to start opening absentee ballots ane week before the election instead of but three days, so that tin can start Tuesday for this election.

It's up to the clerks to decide how many days of absentee ballot processing they want to schedule within that pre-election fourth dimension period, merely the secretary of state must be notified of the municipalities' plans as the processing must be made made public for anyone who wishes to watch, Kristen Schulze Muszynski, the secretary of state'south communications manager, told ABC News.

"In the larger municipalities that are getting a groovy number of absentee ballots for this election, they may do several days of it. Some of the smaller towns might only need i twenty-four hour period or a mean solar day and a half," Muszynski said.

During this time, election officials can open the outer envelopes, remove the ballots, flatten them and, if applicable, separate federal and state ballots, and ultimately prepare the ballots for tabulation.

Most half of Maine's approximately 500 municipalities count ballots past hand, Muszynski said, but these tend to be "very small towns." The residue utilise optical scanners. These machines essentially take pictures of the ballots, and that data is loaded onto a proprietary retentivity stick. All memory sticks containing the candy absentee ballots are so combined with the memory sticks containing in person Election Twenty-four hour period votes, and they are tabulated together after polls close on Nov. 3.

Towns have ii days to get their election results to the secretarial assistant of state'due south election division in Augusta, so they aren't required to consummate counting on election dark. Just, Muszynski said that most municipalities try to complete counting on election night, and information technology's ordinarily smaller towns where the clerk decides to wrap for the nighttime and first fresh the next morning.

As far every bit when it's finished, "one of the big deciding factors" is how many Maine voters -- especially those living in larger municipalities -- wait until Election 24-hour interval to return their ballots, which is when clerks must receive them in order to count them.

"That is going to slow things down significantly considering the processing of those ballots is obviously much more labor intensive than people walking in (to a polling precinct) and doing it themselves," Muszynski said.

Michigan

Michigan clerks in the land's larger municipalities were given some relief -- but not much -- to process absentee ballots for the general ballot.

Under land law, absentee ballots cannot brainstorm beingness processed until Ballot Day, but in early Oct, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed a bill that allowed clerks in cities with populations of at least 25,000 to begin opening and sorting ballots at ten a.m. November. 2, the twenty-four hours before the election. They must cease at 8 p.m., so information technology's only a 10-hour head start on this process.

At the bill signing, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the legislation was only "a small step," and that seven additional days would've been ameliorate.

"Information technology's not plenty. States like Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida give their local clerks significantly more time, in some cases weeks more, to begin this process, but here nosotros are," she said.

Benson said that her expectation is that every ballot won't exist counted until the Fri post-obit the election.

"Now information technology may be sooner, but we want to manage those expectations," she said.

That timeline got more realistic later the Michigan Courtroom of Appeals blocked a lower court's order extending the deadline for absentee ballots to be received inside two weeks of Ballot Day, as long as they were postmarked by November. 2. All absentee ballots must exist returned past poll endmost time on Nov. 3 to be counted in Michigan.

Over 3 million absentee ballots have been requested in Michigan and 1.9 one thousand thousand have already been returned.

Minnesota

Minnesota was one of the start states to brainstorm early in-person voting in the 2020 general ballot, with voters able to cast their absentee ballots beginning 46 days before Election 24-hour interval.

In recent elections, approximately a quarter of all votes were cast via absentee ballots. In 2016, over 670,000 Minnesotans voted by absentee ballot. This ballot year, however, Minnesota has seen "an absolute shattering" of the previous record of people requesting an absentee ballot, according to Secretary of State Steve Simon. As of Oct. 23, 1,765,327 Minnesotans had submitted their absentee ballots and nearly 1.2 meg were returned and accepted by election officials.

Each absentee election includes a secrecy envelope that contains the bodily ballot, as well as the outer envelope, which has the voters' signature on it.

According to the Secretary of State's function, inside five days of receiving a ballot, absentee election boards do some pre-processing of every ballot that arrives -- checking for a signature on the envelope, checking that the personal identifying information on the envelope matches the absentee ballot asking application and verifying that the voter hasn't already voted.

Get-go Oct. 20, officials could commencement separating the outer signature envelopes from the secrecy envelopes containing the ballots. However, the votes themselves volition not be tabulated and logged until ballot night, afterward the polls shut at 8 p.1000. All absentee ballots that have been processed up until that betoken, along with in-person votes, will be reported.

Voters in the North Star state don't need to have an excuse to vote absentee and, considering of the pandemic, the state dropped the witness requirement for the general election.

A citizens' rights group had challenged the state law that requires absentee ballots to exist received by 8 p.m. on Ballot Solar day to be counted, and originally won in court. Only on Thursday dark, just days before the election, the eighth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals reversed that decision, ruling that absentee ballots must be received by the original deadline.

Simon warned the "last-infinitesimal change could disenfranchise Minnesotans" equally the extension had been in place since Baronial.

"I won't let whatever Minnesota voter be silenced. My mission is now to make sure all voters know that a federal court has all of a sudden changed the rules, and that their ballot needs to be received by Election Day," he said in a statement.

Nevada

In Nevada, while clerks can get a jump commencement on counting absentee ballots before Election Day, all ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 must still be counted -- which opens the possibility of delayed results from the Silverish State.

In Nevada, a new law allows poll workers to start counting votes 14 days before the election, rather than waiting until Election Day.

But the state also counts mail-in ballots until Nov. 10 -- so long equally all ballots are postmarked by Nov. 3 -- so ballots will continue to exist counted in the days subsequently the election.

All vote counting is overseen by a bipartisan counting board in each county and members of the public can also detect, according to the Nevada Secretary of Country'southward office.

Vote by mail service has get increasingly more than popular this yr in Nevada as a upshot of the state's decision to transport all registered voters a ballot in the postal service.

Nevada voters accept already cast twice as many absentee ballots this bicycle as they did in 2016. According to data released by the Secretary of State's office on Oct. 23, voters had cast near 43% of the full ballots cast in 2016, according to the U.s.a. Elections Project. That's 512,000 ballots cast since that engagement, including in-person early votes. Almost 212,000 people voted in-person, while around 300,000 voted by mail, according to McDonald. Democrats deemed for about 45% of the votes, while Republicans accounted for well-nigh 34%.

North Carolina

North Carolina was the first land to ship out absentee ballots, mailing out its beginning batch on Sept. iv. Following that lead, county boards of elections have been processing returned absentee ballots for more than a month at present, beginning on Sept. 29.

The tardily September kickoff date is two weeks earlier than usual, thanks to a law passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in June.

County boards have to practice all absentee ballot processing and scanning during scheduled absentee board meetings that are public, while still maintaining the secrecy of the ballots.

The meetings have been held at to the lowest degree every Tuesday starting Sept. 29 at 5 p.m. Canton boards were allowed to change the time of the Tuesday meetings and to schedule additional meetings to review absentee ballots, but that data needed to be publicized in a local newspaper past Oct. iv. Counties were encouraged by the Northward Carolina Country Board of Elections (NCSBE) to hold additional meetings, or beginning them before on Tuesdays, to be able to process the expected influx in ballots.

There are preparatory steps that the county boards of ballot tin can consul to the manager of elections or staff, but during these meetings, the county boards of elections review the outer envelopes the ballots are returned in to cheque for "deficiencies." There is no voter signature verification in N Carolina, but voters are required to have one witness signature. If a voter is missing this, they must fill out a new election, with a witness signature, in order to have their vote count.

After the initial check, the boards are immune to browse the approved ballots, a process that also occurs during these meetings. "Scanning" involves opening the outer envelopes, removing the ballots and scanning them into a tabulator, which reads the ballots, only doesn't actually print totals. No tabulation occurs until the day of the election, and the NCSBE is encouraging county election boards to begin counting by 2 p.m.

In order for scanning to occur, a bulk of canton board members must be present, including one of each political party. If a member from either political political party isn't available, a fellow member of the county political political party's executive committee must be present.

While polls close at 7:thirty p.yard. on Ballot Day, results won't be reported until all polls close, Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the NCSBE, told ABC News. The NCSBE has the authority to extend poll hours for precincts where any issues acquired that corresponding polling place to be unavailable for at to the lowest degree 15 minutes.

When results are reported, all early votes -- in person and absentee -- will be reported beginning.

Gannon said the board expects that virtually ballots will be counted on election night. The exceptions are provisional ballots and absentee ballots that are postmarked by Nov. iii, simply arrive after Election Twenty-four hours. Under North Carolina state law, those ballots arriving by Nov. 6 will exist counted.

An additional extension of vi days was added and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the quaternary Circuit rejected Republicans' efforts to block that extension in a conclusion Tuesday.

Simply, the legal fight isn't over still. Republican leaders in the country legislature have asked the Supreme Courtroom to counterbalance in on the matter and reduce the postal service-ballot return timeline to the original three days.

Ohio

Outset Oct. half-dozen -- the day later on the voter registration period closed in Ohio -- county boards of elections were able to beginning processing returned absentee ballots.

When absentee ballots arrive, a team of bipartisan election officials open the envelopes and remove the ballots. A Democrat and a Republican ballot official will together verify the voter's data is accurate. Later on that, the election is stored in a secure room that must exist opened by both a Autonomous and Republican official.

The ballots are then removed from this room on Election Twenty-four hours for counting.

In Ohio, absentee ballots are ofttimes the kickoff votes tabulated on ballot night, beginning when polls close, at vii:30 p.m. local.

Before scanning and tabulating the ballots, another bipartisan team of election officials double checks that the voter's data on the election and on the ballot envelope match. So the absentee ballots are scanned and the tabulations are sent for printing via a closed network. The board of elections director reviews these earlier sending off to the secretary of state'due south office.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose has posted a video explainer of "the life of an absentee election" on his Facebook page.

Co-ordinate to a directive from LaRose, county lath of elections are required to report to his office how many absentee ballots were issued only non returned past the close of polls on November. three, also every bit how many provisional ballots were issued on Election Day and during early in-person voting.

This allows the secretary of state to do something its function has never done before.

Co-ordinate to the video LaRose posted to Facebook, in addition to reporting candidates' vote tallies on election nighttime, the state will also report the number of outstanding absentee ballots and provisional ballots.

Under state police force, absentee ballots postmarked by the solar day before Election Day volition be counted every bit long every bit they get in by November. 13, 10 days after the election. So this new feature could be a significant assist for calling races more than speedily because if the number of outstanding ballots is less than the margin betwixt 2 candidates, it'due south impossible for the losing candidate to make upwardly ground.

Pennsylvania

Ballot officials can only procedure mail ballots as before long as the police allows, and in Pennsylvania, that ways they can't brainstorm opening returned mail ballots in whatsoever way until the polls open on Election 24-hour interval.

Because of a law enacted in November 2019, any registered voter in the battleground land can vote past mail, and during the June primary, there was a 17-fold increase in voters casting ballots by mail statewide.

The massive influx in mail ballots combined with the inability to process them until Election Day left county election officials counting these ballots for days. In Philadelphia, the state'southward most populous county, officials didn't fifty-fifty outset counting ballots until the Wednesday subsequently the election considering staff had to prioritize Ballot Solar day responsibilities. They were all the same counting two weeks subsequently the master.

But election officials, including Secretarial assistant of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar, sympathise the want for results quickly in the land decided by simply 44,000 votes in 2016, and have been preparing to do that, despite the legal limitation they're up confronting as one of the few states that doesn't allow mail service ballot pre-processing.

Despite election officials asking the state legislature for months now to change the law around when counties can begin processing these ballots, they have not.

"Information technology'due south and then rare that yous take a circumstance like this where you have an obvious solution that'south legislative, it costs nothing, information technology completely solves the problem and it has zilch negative side effects," Boockvar told Spotlight PA.

In an interview with ABC News Alive Friday, Boockvar said that since the chief, counties have upped their staff, bought new equipment and implemented best practices in lodge to deliver timely results.

"The largest counties are actually planning on counting 24/7 until they get the counting done, and then that we tin ensure that not just is every ballot counted accurately, but counted accurately as speedily as humanly possible," she said.

That is the counting programme in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties.

Kevin Feeley, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Metropolis Commissioners, told ABC News that the city volition brainstorm counting at 7 a.m. on Nov. 3 and expects to have a significant number of ballots counted by the time polls close at 8 p.g.

Upon receipt at the elections office, mail ballots go through a sorter machine that timestamps their inflow and sends a notification to the respective voters then they know their ballot was received.

Just on Election Day is when the real processing begins. Start, the ballots go through an "extractor" machine, which removes the ballot from inside its inner secrecy envelope -- where it must be to be counted. Whatever "naked ballot" will be put to the side and not counted. The machine then takes the election, which is folded, out of the secrecy envelope, and so unfolds it so the ballot is flat. The extractors tin process about 12,000 ballots per hour.

Then, the ballots get fed into a scanner, which does the tabulation. Feeley said the scanners can handle about 32,000 ballots per hour.

While Feeley said he couldn't give an exact timeline for when the urban center volition be washed counting, he did say they think that "a large majority of the ballots will be counted" by November. 6, which is the current borderline for mail service ballots to arrive, as long as they are postmarked by November. three or presumed to take been in the mail past that day.

Boockvar, in a printing conference Wednesday, agreed with that estimated timeline, maxim she expects "the counties will have candy the overwhelming bulk of ballots" by Nov. 6.

Despite the extended deadline to return those ballots, she still encouraged voters to play it safe, and cast their ballot before or on Election Day.

A week ago, the Supreme Court rejected state Republicans' request to block the three-day postal service ballot extension, but information technology is still possible that mail service-election litigation could seek to disqualify ballots arriving after polls close on Nov. 3 in Pennsylvania.

Texas

While Texas has seen incredible turnout so far, the overwhelming bulk of ballots cast have been past in-person, early voters, as information technology is one of just five states where voters still need an excuse beyond having concerns almost the coronavirus to request an absentee election. This means information technology will take fewer postal service ballots, comparatively, to procedure than states where anyone can vote by mail service.

When counties tin can begin processing mail ballots depends on how large the county is, according to a memo from the state'due south director of elections, Keith Ingram.

Counties with populations of 100,000 or more than can convene its early voting ballot board (EVBB) to first processing and qualifying mail service ballots showtime the 12th twenty-four hour period before the election, which for this election was Thursday. Counties with populations less than 100,000 can begin processing and qualifying ballots after the polls close on the last day of in-person early on voting, which is this Friday.

When the EVBB meets, they will look at whether the outer envelopes of returned absentee ballots are "properly executed"; cheque that the signatures on the original application and the return envelope are from the respective voter, not somebody else; and ensure the voter's application stated ane of the accustomed reasons to vote absentee.

If a ballot is accustomed, the EVBB will separate the ballot from its outer envelope to be counted by the lath or at a cardinal counting station.

No results can be released until polls close on Election 24-hour interval, just counties tin brainstorm scanning ballots during the respective processing menstruum as long as their machines can exercise that without tabulating the results.

For the actual counting, counties with populations of 100,000 or more tin can start doing this on Friday, afterward the polls shut on the last day of early on voting. For the smaller counties, absentee ballots tin can't be counted until the polls open up on Election Day. Regardless of county size, no results can be released until polls close.

In Texas, absentee ballots are due by 7 p.chiliad. local time -- when polls close -- on Election Day, unless they are postmarked past that time. Officials tin can count those ballots if they arrive by 5 p.grand. on Nov.4 . Any ballots received by the time polls close on Nov. 3 must exist counted election night, and these ballots volition be included in results on that dark. In that location are a few exceptions for specific categories of voters that let late arriving absentee ballots to exist counted.

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, poll workers will be doing double duty on Election 24-hour interval.

Because vote counting is a publicly observable process, poll workers can but brainstorm to count absentee ballots get-go at seven a.thousand. local time on November. 3, when anyone is invited to come up and watch. Poll workers tin can check the signatures on the outer envelopes and practise sorting alee of Election 24-hour interval, but they cannot open returned absentee ballots until that morning time.

In Wisconsin, it'due south "double the corporeality of piece of work, aforementioned amount of time," Wisconsin Elections Committee administrator Meagan Wolfe said, because poll workers will be counting absentee ballots while hosting a regular, in-person Election Day.

"Then it may take a fiddling bit longer, but our communities are adding resource to the process to make sure that they're able to do that as efficiently as possible," she added.

There too might exist reporting delays in sure jurisdictions between the in-person and the absentee vote tallies beingness posted. I could take longer and come in later, so voters shouldn't exist confused if they see a big jump in numbers when that happens.

As is the example most places, the influx of absentee ballots this year in Wisconsin is immense. Voters have already bandage up of 41% of the total votes cast in the country in 2016 through absentee voting, whereas historically merely 6% of voters bandage absentee ballots in past elections. That number is expected to rise; 80% of voters cast absentee ballots during Wisconsin's most recent election in August.

"What I've been telling people is that basically throw out all the quondam records, there's nil that compares to what'south going on now," Reid Magney, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told reporters during a press conference on Thursday.

Clerks have their work cut out for them, equally they have to continue to count ballots through the nighttime until there are none left to count.

After the polls close at 8 p.m., the process remains open to the public as clerks count votes and machines tabulate to eventually produce a study.

Then, municipalities turn the results over to the county, which postal service the unofficial results on their website.

"I'grand just unbelievably proud of our local election officials and everything that they've done this yr to prepare," said Wolfe. "I call back they're gear up."

Update: This story was updated to reflect a court decision in Minnesota.

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Arielle Mitropoulos, Kendall Karson and Olivia Rubin contributed reporting.

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Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/battleground-states-process-mail-ballots-delayed-results/story?id=73717671

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