While results might come in later than usual this year, that’s because of a change in how people are voting, not malfeasance or fraud.
Millions of Americans have already voted, but each state has different rules on when it’s allowed to actually start counting those ballots. That is going to produce results coming in at very different times — perhaps days or even weeks after Election Day. In some places, election officials can begin processing ballots weeks before Election Day. That means workers can start verifying voter information while also removing ballots from their envelopes to physically get them ready for tabulation. Doing so readies ballots for counting on Election Day and will speed up the release of results. But it’s not that simple. In some of the most critical battleground states, laws prevent the early processing of ballots.
