What to expect on Election Day: When will we know who won?
NEW YORK (PIX11) – If we do not have a projected presidential winner on Election night, blame the states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada.
The presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will come down to seven crucial swing states. Election laws in three of those states mean counting could take days due to the increasing popularity of early and mail-in voting.
The other states in question are North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona, which are expected to process and tally ballots more quickly. Those states allow election workers to securely process ballots and count them before Election Day. The results are withheld until shortly after the polls close in those respective states.
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin process ballots in a similar way. In those two states, officials cannot even prepare to count millions of absentee ballots until Election Day, when workers are also running polling places.
Preparing a ballot involves removing it from the envelope, confirming a proper signature and flattening the ballot to be scanned. Scanning and tallying ballots only happens after the polls close at 8 p.m. in Pennsylvania and 8 p.m. in Wisconsin.
Nevada works differently but its process also leads to delayed results. The majority of Nevada's residents vote by mail, and ballots can be counted as they come in.
However, in Nevada, ballots postmarked by Election Day have until Nov. 9, the Saturday after, to arrive. Additionally, Nevada allows residents to "cure" their ballots in case they forget to sign it. The predominance of mail-in voting, and the curing process, usually means Nevada races are not decided until a few days after Election Day.
So what does this mean?
If all three states are close, the election could remain undecided for several days.
How will this play out on Election Night?
In recent years, Republicans have favored voting on Election Day, due to Trump's open distrust of voting by mail. This trend appears to be continuing based on a recent poll by Marist of people who have already voted. In slow-counting states, generally, the first results that get reported are Election Day voters, which are likely to favor Trump. Harris will be hoping more support is, literally, yet to be counted.
Why are there concerns about slow counting?
Trump has used early tallies favoring him to sow distrust in the election process. However, his lawsuits contending election fraud have been roundly rejected by the legal system.