The Associated Press reports that so far, voters nationwide have cast more than 83 million advance ballots in anticipation of the 2024 general election – but many of the final results won’t be in by the end of the night.
This goes not only for the close presidential race, but state and even local races and initiatives.
Not knowing all the results by the end of election day is stressful for some voters, including Daisy Montesinos Rivera.
”I feel like there’s still anxiety because, as we know, there’s still polls, so usually by the end of the night, we know, like, who is going to be your president, even though we’re not certified until much later. So I think there’s still, like, stumbling anxiety, but hopefully I’m just gonna try to take it day by day, obviously, and try to encourage people not to stress so much,” she said.
The good thing is that it’s actually completely normal to not have confirmed winners the night of November 5. Not only do different state laws affect how soon all votes are in and counted, but also how fast media outlets are able to project a winner.
According to Poynter, some states, including California, allow ballots to be received after election day if they’re postmarked on or before Election Day, or if they’re coming from military members or those overseas. Laws in 15 states allow votes to be counted up to a week after Election Day. In 21 states, that length of time can go up to two weeks. Nine states allow three weeks, and a select few allow as long as four weeks to complete vote counting.
Once that time passes, preliminary unofficial results allow next steps to be taken. This includes states certifying results, for which deadlines are in November and December.
While an election may feel like an unnecessarily long waiting game for some, these enforced timelines allow for the integrity of its outcomes.
In the meantime, voters like Chris Ferro are trying their best to focus on how to move forward after results come in — instead of focusing on the clock.
”You know, hopefully there’s a pretty clear sign, so the people who are going to be disappointed can begin the coping process, whatever that might be, and that we can, just as a country, kind of get through this period, move ahead and just like you know, hopefully end up in a better place,” he said.