How Vote Counting Rules Have Changed in Key States Since 2020

Election results are never final on Election Day. Recently updated Roadmap to the Official Census Details, election officials follow a meticulous counting process, checking and rechecking all available information until they are confident that every eligible ballot has been counted and included in the final vote total. This process takes time, and election officials who count the votes must follow rules set by state law.

Since 2020, as vote counting has slowed in many states big increases in voting by mail and operational restrictions necessitated by public health measures, some states have updated their laws to allow election officials to count votes and release results more quickly. Most notably, Michigan now allows election officials to begin processing and counting mail ballots before Election Day.

Processing It usually involves verifying the voter information and eligibility on the mail ballot envelope, opening the envelope, and removing the ballot and getting it ready to be counted in the voting machine. This time-consuming process significantly slows down the speed at which election officials count mail ballots, so 43 states allow it Election officials begin the process before Election Day. This change will allow Michigan officials to release results faster than they did four years ago.

Other states have refused to change rules that slowed down vote counts or imposed new hurdles that could have caused results to be announced later. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, legislatures failed once again To change laws that prohibit election officials from processing mail-in ballots before election day repeated demands and bipartisan support To address these reforms, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina have added new steps to the post-election process that election officials have warned could lead to slower results.

Below, we cover how key states have changed their vote counting processes or timelines since 2020.

Arizona

Mail-in ballots dropped off on Election Day were contributing significantly to slower results in Arizona’s largest county, and the legislature added an extra step to counting those votes.

With its frequent high-profile close elections, Arizona has received a lot of attention recently as the public waits days after Election Day to learn the results of the election. While Arizona election officials can generally begin processing and counting mailed ballots (called “early ballots” in Arizona) early, election officials cannot retrieve and process ballots that are dropped off at a secure ballot drop box at a polling place on Election Day until the polls close and all voters have left. This requirement contributes significantly to the slowdown of election results in the state — in Maricopa County (Arizona’s largest), nearly one fifth of all votes cast Early ballots for the 2022 general election were dropped off on election day.

In February of this year, the legislature a new step has been added In this process: County election officials must count and report the number of ballots cast on Election Day before processing and counting them. Election officials must: generally interpreted this requires that the counting of ballots be done at the polling place before they are transported to the central counting location. The impact of this law on the timeline for releasing unofficial results would be minimal in most counties, as state law also prohibits the release of results until at least one hour after the polls close. However, it could delay election results, especially in larger counties.

Beyond that change, vote counting will largely follow the same process as in 2020. However, there is one non-processing change in at least one Arizona county that could further slow down the reporting of results this November. In 2020, Maricopa County voters used single-card ballots (ballots are separate pieces of paper); in 2024, Maricopa County voters Two-card ballot papers will be used because it requires substantial additional page space local ballot measuresThat means Maricopa County election officials will need to process and tabulate votes on nearly twice as many pieces of paper compared to 2020.

Georgia

Georgia’s state elections board continues to make last-minute changes to the vote counting process, which the secretary of state has warned could delay election results.

Georgia state legislature in 2021 passed a law allows counties to begin processing and scanning mail ballots up to two weeks before Election Day. State of emergency rule in effect The same thing was allowed for the 2020 elections.

So while the vote counting process will be similar to four years ago, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger warned last minute arrangements state election board passed “could delay election results and weaken chain of custody security.” Specifically, new regulation requires poll workers to open ballot boxes after the polls close on Election Day, count the number of votes cast by handand reseal the ballots before the vote counts are collected and reported. Raffensperger He noted that such procedures would “increase the likelihood that Georgians will not know the results on Election Night.”

The state elections board also passed a bill new rule empowers local certification officers Conducting a “reasonable investigation” into the election results before certifying them. Another new rule burdens county boards with various pre-certification requests, including an amendment that allows county board members to review all “election-related” documents, a category that is nearly unlimited in scope. safety measures in place To ensure that certification authorities in Georgia fulfill their mandatory duty to certify results by the statutory deadline, these changes may cause delays in reaching a complete and final result.

The state election board continues to evaluate the new rules, and the state attorney general’s office is considering some of the new rules may be illegal because they conflict with state law or exceed the board’s authority. It is unclear at this time what rules will apply to this election.

Michigan

Michigan’s legislature and voters overhauled the state’s election system, giving election officials more flexibility and making it easier to count votes and get results out quicker.

Of all the swing states, Michigan’s voting and vote-counting processes will be the most different than they were four years ago, when Michigan voters and the state legislature passed a bill. wide range of reforms expanding voting access and making vote counting more efficient.

Jurisdictions with a population of more than 5,000 I can start now Processing and sorting of mail ballots up to eight days before Election Day (jurisdictions with fewer people can begin the day before Election Day). This change will allow election officials to report a greater percentage of the vote on election night than in 2020. For example, Detroit, which pre-processed mail ballots during an August primary this year, Ability to report results More than 80 percent of votes cast by mail by 22:30 on election night.

Michigan voters also passed an expansionary amendment to the state constitution early voting in person. Voters were previously able to vote early by filling out an absentee ballot in person, but those ballots still had to be processed like other mail ballots. Now, in-person early voting ballots will be scanned as they are on Election Day; the results of those ballots will be released immediately when the first results are released on election night. Voters can also bring their completed mail ballot to an early voting location and return the ballot directly to the browser.

These changes will not only make voting easier, they will also significantly reduce the burden on election officials, allowing them to complete time-consuming tasks before Election Day, resulting in faster results.

North Carolina

New hurdles facing North Carolina election officials and voters could slow down final results.

Don’t follow a new state law Under a law enacted last year, counties must wait until polls close at 7:30 p.m. to begin the process of counting and reporting votes cast during the early voting period. Previously, counties could count those results before polls closed and then report the results immediately at 7:30 p.m. on election night. The state board of elections estimated It is stated that this change could delay the announcement of results by up to an hour, or even more in large districts.

The the same law also changed the deadline for mail ballot returns stipulates that mail ballots can be counted only if they arrive at your county elections office by the time the polls close on Election Day. The law previously allowed mail ballots to be counted as long as they were returned by the voter and postmarked by Election Day.

Finally, the photo ID requirement that the state legislature passed in 2018 will go into effect in the first presidential election this year, following a decision by the state supreme court. reversal of previous decision declaring the law unconstitutional. This requirement could lead to more voters casting provisional ballots, which would take longer to count and could result in a longer wait before full results are determined.

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There’s no inherent problem with slower vote counts; all states finalize their vote counts and certify official results in the days and weeks after Election Day. But in many states, the outcome of the presidential election is known on election night, shifting public attention to the handful of states where the final vote count will take place. As this happens in the 2024 election, voters should be confident that election officials are following a careful process to count every eligible vote and produce accurate results. Election officials will prioritize accuracy over speed.