When are mail-in and absentee ballots counted? : NPR

Candidates for president and vice president of the United States, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, as well as Republican former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, are on part of a mail-in ballot see on Sunday in New York.

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Election Day is this Tuesday, but for various reasons we may not receive the results that evening.

One such delay is the work required to process and count mail-in ballots.

Most U.S. states offer some form of early in-person and absentee voting to all voters, and tens of millions of voters cast ballots earlier this year.

Because each state has different rules for the schedule for processing and counting mail-in ballots, many election officials may not begin counting those ballots until Election Day or even after polls close that night.

Make sure you know when your state will begin processing and counting mail-in ballots.

And remember to stay calm and stay calm when results finally come in.

A person places a mail-in ballot in a mailbox during the May 21 primary election in Portland, Oregon.

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Local laws limit when election officials can process ballots

Absentee and absentee ballots must be processed before they can be counted.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the process of processing mail-in ballots varies by state. Typically, it involves several steps: checking the ballot envelope, verifying that the signature on the return envelope matches the voter's signature on file, opening the envelope, and preparing the ballot for counting. In most states, officials cannot enter the ballot into the tabulator until polls close on Election Day.

Absentee and absentee ballots must be processed before they can be counted.

• Forty-three states and the Virgin Islands Allow election officials to begin processing these early ballots before Election Day.
• In Connecticut and OhioElection officials may, at their discretion, decide to begin processing early ballots earlier.
• In seven states – Alabama, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin as well as Washington, DC, — Mailed-in ballots can be processed on Election Day and before polls close.

Processing mail-in ballots typically requires more time and resources than in-person voting, especially when large numbers are involved, as was the case in the 2020 election. The limited time available to process ballots on Election Day may result in delays. This issue became particularly apparent during the pandemic when laws changed to allow more people to vote early, creating significant challenges for election workers processing absentee and absentee ballots.

In 2020, Kathleen Hale, the director of Auburn University's Election Administration Initiative, told NPR to think of this process like the holidays when you receive gifts and write thank-you letters.

“Perhaps you would normally receive ten gifts and write a thank you letter for each gift. Only now are you getting a thousand of them,” Hale said. “The technical steps aren’t particularly complicated – there’s just a long sequence that needs to happen.”

Chet Harhut, deputy director of the Allegheny County elections department, carries a container of mail-in ballots from a secure area at the election warehouse in Pittsburgh on April 18.

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OK, but when will these ballots be counted and the results announced?

According to NCSL, counting, counting and tabulating are terms states use to describe the process of scanning ballots through their voting machines.

Most states begin tallying mail-in ballots on Election Day, but there are some important differences between them. In certain states, it is illegal to release results of mail-in ballots before polls close, which typically occurs between 6:00 p.m. ET and 12:00 p.m. ET.

According to the NCSL, these are the deadlines in which states can begin recording early ballots.

The 14 states where counting can only begin after the polls close

• Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Washington, DC

The 23 states indicate that the counting of mandates begins on Election Day before the polls close

• Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The 12 states where processing and counting can begin before Election Day:

• Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Virginia and Utah.

According to the NCSL, Connecticut allows local voter registrars to determine when to begin counting ballots. In the Virgin Islands, counting will begin after mail-in ballots are processed, but the exact timing is unknown. Puerto Rico does not indicate when counting may begin.