Election officials across key battleground states are optimistic that results will be faster than 2020, but still urged patience to determine the outcome of this year's presidential election, Politico reported Tuesday.
Four years ago, the nation was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and witnessed a monumental shift in how Americans vote. For the first time, the majority of votes were cast before Election Day with the help of mail-in ballots.
Election officials across swing states point to the surge in mail-in ballots as a key reason for the longer than usual wait to a determine results. Mail-in ballots require more human interaction with each one having to be verified, removed from individual envelopes, and then loaded into a tabulator.
"It should be sooner, but also be patient," Barb Byrum, a clerk in Ingham County, Michigan, told the outlet. "It takes time to make sure that we are still following our security and our procedures."
This year, officials expect a lower number of mail-in ballots along with having more time to refine processes resulting in a faster turnaround.
"The overwhelming majority of ballots were counted by Thursday afternoon or evening in 2020," said Kathy Boockvar, who was Pennsylvania's secretary of state in 2020, "and my guess is the overwhelming majority of ballots will be counted by Wednesday evening."
Adding to the delays of a national election have to do with inconsistent voting laws, such as when election officials can begin counting votes and when ballots must be turned in. In Arizona, voters are allowed to drop off ballots on Election Day or the day before, something that many states do not allow.
"Not every state is created equal, right?" said Carolina Lopez, the executive director at the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions and a former Florida official. "If you're from Florida, you're going to get results a little quicker, simply because we have 22 days of pre-processing. If you're in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, by law, they're not allowed to start until Election Day. It's just a quick numbers game."
Current polling shows former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are either tied or separated by 1 percentage point in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and either state could decide the eventual winner.
Still, most election experts contend that this year will be notably improved from the last presidential election, even if the final results are not until known until days later.
"Things will be different this year," Quinn Yeargain, associate professor of law at Michigan State University told The Hill. "It may not be as quick as 2022. Famous last words I suppose, but I would be surprised if the process took as long as it did in 2020."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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