General Discussion

dalton99a

(81,468 posts) Tue Nov 6, 2018, 06:46 PM Nov 2018

Why it takes so long to get election night results

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/6/18066350/midterm-elections-2018-vote-counting

Why it takes so long to get election night results
Blame America’s very decentralized voting system.
By Jen Kirby jen.kirby@vox.com Nov 6, 2018, 9:20am EST

The last polls of the 2018 midterm elections close at 1 am Wednesday Eastern time. But the final results won’t be available right away, and knowing who won a particular race — let alone who controls Congress — could take days.

That’s because of the slow, grinding work of American democracy: counting votes.

The decentralized US electoral system means that procedures and policies vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and states count and certify votes at different paces. Counting provisional and absentee ballots can stretch on for days.

The counting process varies from place to place. In Los Angeles County, for example, when the polls close at 8 pm, helicopters escorted by the sheriff’s office deliver ballots to the county clerk’s headquarters in Norwalk, touching down in an open library parking lot. The sheriffs carry the ballots inside for processing and tabulation.

In other states, votes are called in by telephone or driven to a central counting location in designated poll workers’ cars.

Here’s how it usually goes — and what’s happening behind the scenes while voters wait to see who won.

...