How Votes Will Be Counted in 2020

Typically, five weeks before a presidential election, we focus on campaigning candidates to reach undecided voters. And while Donald Trump and Joe Biden are making some attempts to influence the 11 percent of the electorate who still believe their vote is final, for now the actual voting process – and more importantly, when and how they cannot be ignored – it was a more serious source of concern for those on both ends of the political spectrum.

For months, Donald Trump has been telling the country that mail-voting will lead to fraud – despite the fact that he has not provided any substantial evidence to support his claim – even as more people are planning to vote this way due to the pandemic. COVID-19. And, continuing the tradition of 2016 , Republicans across the country are expected to try to undermine election results and suppress voter turnout through a variety of means. This includes Trump’s recent call on his supporters to act as poll observers on November 3 – a classic trick designed to intimidate voters .

This is all to say that if you have questions or concerns about voting, you are not alone . To help you figure out what actually happens after you’ve voted – whether it’s a vote, whether it’s a vote or by mail – here’s a look at how the counting process works.

Counting ballots sent by mail

While it has been possible for some time to request an absentee vote in all 50 states, the laws to do so have expanded dramatically thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it is expected that in the upcoming elections half of the votes will be cast in the mail. But how does this process actually work, and when can election officials start counting votes?

Like many other aspects of voting, the counting process for mailing ballots is determined at the state level. There are usually two steps — processing ballots and then counting them — but these terms can have different meanings in different states. According to the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL), “processing” is usually the first step and involves “comparing the sworn signature on the outside of the return envelope with the voter’s signature on the minutes to ensure a match or otherwise verify compliance. the identity of the voter ”.

In some states, ballots can be opened and prepared for tabulation as soon as the signature is verified, which means that the only thing left to do on Election Day is to actually count the votes. While this may speed up the delivery of results on November 3rd, the results will never be released ahead of schedule.

This list from NCSL provides processing and counting times for each state, as well as additional details related to the state.

Counting ballots at polling stations

Remember the whole “hanging child” situation after the 2000 elections and all the related talk about how a standardized voting system across the country would make life easier? Well, two decades later (and for a variety of logistical and financial reasons ) that hasn’t happened yet. Instead, we are still faced with the same jumble of interstate voting methods and equipment , including electronic touch screens, paper ballots, and a combination of the two.

Of course, trips to the polls this year will look a little different thanks to COVID-related precautions, from forced physical distancing while people are queuing to vote, to procedures for disinfecting voting machines, not to mention that “ President calls on his supporters to intimidate voters. ” Both of these factors can mean that waiting times that would have been long will end up being much longer.

At the end of the day, poll workers will announce that the site is closing, while making sure that anyone still in line at the time can vote. The number of ballots cast will then be matched with the number of voters on the register and votes will be counted as needed according to state or jurisdictional law, according to Electionline.org (which has this detailed 63-slide presentation breaking down the electoral process).

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 required older lever-type and punch-card voting machines to be replaced with newer models. Currently, most states use one of two types of technologies for counting votes: optical (or digital) scanners for counting paper ballots, or direct-recording machines (DREs), according to the NCSL . A small number of jurisdictions still manually count their ballots. When it comes time to count the votes, paper ballots are scanned while DRE machines record individual votes and ballot results directly into the computer’s memory.

After the results of the vote are summed up, survey workers are allowed to post a paper copy of the unofficial results on the spot. Then, according to the Brennan Justice Center , the unofficial results are transmitted to a central location by telephone or electronic form, or by transporting the storage device by car or helicopter . After that, the unofficial results of individual surveys are published on the Internet.

But wait, that’s not all. According to the Brennan Center :

As always, unofficial results on election night will be incomplete for reasons described above, such as a sharp increase in the number of mail ballots, restrictions on when mail processing and tabulation can begin, provisional ballots to be accepted, and mail ballots to be counted. states that allow them to be mailed before election day.

While we know that it is unlikely that we will receive any final election results on the night of November 3 or 4, it is unclear at this stage whether the counting process will last for several days or even weeks. With so many moving elements, so many different types of ballots, and so many major threats to democracy in the game, it is best to approach today with the understanding that it can take a while to get an accurate, legitimate vote count.