DemDaily: When The Votes Are Counted! State-by-State Guide
November 4, 2024
Although now in the last 24 hours of the election, the results of the 2024 presidential election may not be clear for days and will not be official until all ballots are counted --which is weeks away.
With the top seven battleground states in a dead heat and future control of the Senate and House in a similar tenuous position, the road to victory may be a long one.
Some of that depends not just on the vote margins but on the process - which varies greatly from state to state.
Several dynamics have changed since the 2020 presidential contest, in which the electoral process was historically upending due to the coronavirus pandemic -- with more than 110 million Americans, roughly 70% of voters casting their ballot early in person or by mail.
Despite the challenges, about two-thirds (66%) of the voting-eligible population were motivated to turn out for the 2020 presidential election – the highest rate for any national election since 1900.
Many states subsequently rewrote their laws to include mail-in balloting and early voting, and in some cases to allow election officials to start processing mail ballots ahead of Election Day. Others instituted greater restrictions on the individual right to vote, with the impact of all still to be determined.
Accordingly, for our followers, we have compiled a comprehensive guide to when you can expect the results in each state -- which vary greatly based on how and when the votes are received, processed and counted.
| Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands provide early voting in which a qualified voter may cast their ballots in person at a polling place prior to an election. Additionally, eight states and Washington, DC run elections primarily by mail. |
KEY
Polls Close Election Day: Times may vary according to county.
When States Begin Processing and Counting Mail-In Votes: Completed absentee/mail-in ballots must first be processed before they can be counted, which generally entails verifying voter signatures and physically preparing ballots for tabulation.
Forty-three states and the Virgin Islands permit election officials to begin processing of some or all absentee/mail ballots prior to the election.
This is different from counting, which doesn't begin until Election Day in 80% of the states. The processing date provides us with insight into which states will be better prepared to announce results soon after the election, as well as those that may take longer due to extended counting of mail-in ballots.
Must Be Received on or before Election Day: Mail-in ballots are required to be in-hand by the close of the election in 30 states, with a number offering exceptions for provisional ballots and overseas voters. The remaining allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted after if received within a designated number of days.
Certification Deadline: The period after the election when officials canvass, or verify that each ballot cast was correctly counted, and certify the results. This is normally a formality, but in a close contest, we may not know until that date.
Swing State Status
North Carolina, where they can begin the tally weeks in advance, is expected to release almost complete results on election night. Election officials will first report totals for mail ballots and later report totals from those who voted early in person or on Election Day
Georgia, where election officials can process absentee ballots as they arrive and can start counting them until 7am on Election Day, officials hope to release results by midnight. Fulton County, home to Atlanta, may take longer.
In Wisconsin, which has voted with the winning candidate in the last four presidential elections, 1.5 million people have already voted. Although The Badger State does not allow early processing, it has historically turned returns around -- with the Associated Press calling the 2020 election for Biden around 2pm the day after the election. Heavy same-day registration and voting could cause some delays.
Arizona allows early processing, but a two-page list of races and ballot questions and a history of heavy same-day voting may inhibit the process. The Associated Press (AP) called Arizona for Biden in 2020 on election night, while most networks waited days to make that determination.
Nevada conducts its voting largely by mail and allows ballots that arrive four days after Election Day to count. As of this morning, close to 1.1 million people had voted early, 38% of whom were Republican, 34% Democrat and 28% "Other" in the very independent-minded state.
All in-person ballots and mail ballots that arrive by election day will be announced first. In 2020, the AP called Nevada for Biden the Saturday after Election Day.
In Michigan, which allows pre-processing prior to counting on election day, and has adopted a new in-person early voting system that is expected to expedite the tabulation, unofficial results are expected by the end of the day Wednesday.
Pennsylvania, by law, can’t start processing and count mail ballots until the close of polls at 7:00pm Election Day. It wasn't until the Saturday after the 2020 election that The Keystone State, the jewel of the 2024 election, awarded Biden the votes needed to secure a majority in the Electoral College.
Roughly 1.8 million mail-in and absentee ballots had been returned as of Monday morning. That’s roughly 80% of the nearly 2.2 million approved by the state’s 67 counties.
| According to data gathered by According to CNN, Edison Research and Catalist, more than 78 million ballots have already been cast in 47 states and the District of Columbia. |
DemList will keep you informed.
DemList
Connecting You to The Party
Connecting You to Each Other
Kimberly Scott
Publisher
Note: State voter information was researched extensively from multiple credible, sometimes conflicting, resources. Let us know if there are updates!
SignUp for the Daily updates on policy, politics and the players.
Follow DemList on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Sources:Vote.org, US Vote Foundation, Ballotpedia, NPR, NCSL, CNN, Washington Post, NBC and Secretaries of State sites in each state.
