Election results are not immediately final on Election Day. According to the recently updated Roadmap to the Official Count, election officials go through a meticulous counting process to ensure every eligible vote is included. This thorough process requires time, as election workers must adhere to state laws governing vote counting.
Since 2020, some states have modified their laws to expedite the vote-counting process, compensating for the delays caused by increased mail voting and health measures. Notably, Michigan now permits the processing and tabulation of mail ballots before Election Day.
Processing mail ballots involves verifying voter information, opening envelopes, and preparing ballots for machine tabulation. This laborious procedure slows down the overall vote count, prompting 43 states to allow pre-Election Day processing. With this adjustment, Michigan expects to release results more promptly than in the previous election cycle.
Conversely, states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have not adopted measures to speed up the count, despite repeated requests from election officials. These states still prohibit processing mail ballots before Election Day. Furthermore, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina have introduced new steps that could delay result reporting.
Below, we examine the changes key states have made to their ballot counting processes since 2020.
Arizona
Arizona has added another step to counting mail ballots dropped off on Election Day, which already contributed to slower results.
Arizona’s high-profile, tight elections have often led to prolonged result wait times. While officials can process early ballots before Election Day, those dropped off on Election Day cannot be handled until after polls close. Nearly a fifth of votes in Maricopa County were early ballots dropped off on Election Day in 2022.
In February, the legislature introduced a requirement for county officials to count and report the number of ballots dropped off on Election Day before processing them. This step might minimally impact smaller counties but could delay results in larger ones. Additionally, Maricopa County voters will use two-card ballots due to local measures, doubling the paper volume for officials to process.
Georgia
Georgia’s state election board has passed new regulations that could delay election results, as warned by the secretary of state.
Georgia’s 2021 law allows counties to process and scan mail ballots up to two weeks before Election Day, similar to an emergency rule from 2020. However, new regulations require poll workers to hand-count ballots after polls close, potentially delaying results. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has cautioned that these last-minute changes could prevent Georgians from knowing the results on Election Night.
The state election board has also empowered local officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into results before certification and imposed additional precertification requirements. While safeguards ensure results will be certified by the deadline, these changes could slow the process.
Michigan
Michigan’s legislature and voters have implemented reforms to streamline vote counting and expedite result reporting.
Michigan has undergone significant changes, allowing jurisdictions with over 5,000 residents to process and tabulate mail ballots up to eight days before Election Day. Smaller jurisdictions can start the day before. This change helped Detroit report over 80% of mail votes by 10:30 p.m. during a recent primary.
Voters also approved a constitutional amendment for in-person early voting, allowing early ballots to be scanned immediately. This will reduce the burden on election workers and facilitate faster result reporting.
North Carolina
New legal hurdles in North Carolina could delay the final election results.
A new state law requires counties to wait until polls close at 7:30 p.m. to start tabulating early vote results, potentially causing delays of up to an hour or more. Additionally, mail ballots must now be received by Election Day, no longer counted if postmarked by that date.
North Carolina’s photo ID requirement, effective for the first time this presidential election, may result in more provisional ballots, further delaying the final count.
During the election process, the priority for officials remains the accuracy and integrity of the count, ensuring every eligible vote is included.
