It takes a while. Such ballots are kept separately, and sometimes voters are required to provide further information for instance, ID verification to confirm their eligibility. They typically have a week to do so—obviously creating delays in the initial count. There are also a lot of votes that come in via mail , and a good portion of those arrive damaged.
By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy. Skip to navigation Skip to content. Discover Membership. Editions Quartz. More from Quartz About Quartz. Follow Quartz. You can check here to see in which ridings the counting of ballots is finished.
You can also check to see what percentage of special ballots in each riding have been counted. International and national mail-in ballots and special ballots from Canadian Forces and incarcerated electors will be counted at Elections Canada's facility in Ottawa.
We expect to post the preliminary results of these counts, on our website on election night. However, if the counting of all the ballots received in Ottawa by the election day deadline cannot be completed on election night, the counting will continue after election day. Returning officers can start counting local special ballots, including mail-in ballots, as soon as they have completed the necessary verification process.
This process involves checking to make sure that electors who voted by special ballot did not also vote in person. This is an important and essential step that must take place before workers can start opening envelopes to count the ballots inside. The verification checks can begin only after polls close. Returning officers will start the verification checks on the morning of Tuesday, September 21, and it may take up to 24 hours to finish them, at which point the counting of local special ballots can begin.
Therefore, some ridings may not start reporting results for local special ballots until Wednesday, September All candidates in a riding may have representatives present at each counting location to observe the counting process. Given the number of local special ballots we have received, we expect most of the country's ridings to report the results of their local special ballot count on Tuesday, September 21, and the vast majority to finish counting by Wednesday, September However, due to high volumes or logistical challenges, the full count may take up to four days in some ridings.
Regardless of whether ballots are counted at Elections Canada's facility in Ottawa, at individual polling stations on election night or at our local offices, they are counted by hand by two election workers in front of party representatives.
By law, candidates can send representatives to witness the count at polling locations, the returning office or any other location in a riding where ballot counting is taking place. In addition, political parties will be invited to send representatives to observe the count of special ballots received at our Ottawa facility.
This count can start as early as Day 14 before polling day if the volumes of special ballots we receive justify it. Parties may also submit names of people to work as Special Ballot Officers to count ballots at our Ottawa location. Candidates and their representatives will be required to wear masks. In many cases, they will witness the count through plexiglass barriers set up at the polls. In some cases, they may be asked to sit or stand two meters from the counting desks, which will not impede their ability to observe the count.
Elections Canada does not use automatic ballot-counting machines to count ballots or tabulate results. We have trained and paid election workers who count ballots by hand in the presence of candidates, representatives, or other designated observers who are allowed to watch the counting of the votes.
While we do not use automatic ballot-counting machines, they are successfully and securely used in some other jurisdictions. So these states could take days to finish their counts. Wisconsin may come close early Wednesday, however. His path to victory goes through the slow states. Biden, though, is on the offensive in several other states Trump won last time — states that are expected to be relatively quicker at counting.
The same would hold true if he scores surprising wins in some of his reach states, like Georgia , Ohio , or Texas. Conversely, if Trump manages to hold on in those states — or if they are so close that they remain uncalled — then settle in for a long few days.
This is going to take a while. There are many normal, if unfortunate, reasons that vote-counting can take a while. Long lines can keep polling places open late. Technical difficulties, understaffing, or other assorted mishaps can slow reporting.
And if the margin between the candidates is extremely close, even if things are mostly working fine, the winner may take some time to determine. The challenge here is that mailed ballots are time-consuming to process since they must be verified against registration information to make sure the vote was properly cast. Keep in mind what all those in-person voters at polling places are waiting in line for. If everything looks good, you can then go cast your secret ballot.
Local election officials have to verify that each mail-in ballot was properly cast. Doing this for hundreds of thousands of mailed-in votes takes quite a while. Several states have chosen to do this, though there are a few unfortunate exceptions. Despite being known for messy, disputed elections, Florida has a history of handling lots of mail ballots and a significant in-person early vote, and the state does tend to get its count done relatively quickly.
Though the closer the count is, the longer it will take to call a winner. Arizona , meanwhile, started processing and counting mail ballots on October Now, a new law has expanded that window , so processing started two weeks beforehand. North Carolina has a particularly large amount of in-person early votes, which can also be counted speedily. But if things go roughly as planned, it will probably mean that well over half the votes in these states get counted quickly, simply because they started earlier.
It also means that if the early vote in these states is more pro-Biden than the election day vote, the early count could give the impression that Biden is ahead — and his lead could shrink as the in-person votes are counted. But Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin refused to take this basic, commonsense step of beginning ballot processing early.
From the standpoint of good government, this is inexplicable; it can only be explained by partisan politics. By slowing the count of mail-in votes, Republicans in these states evidently hope the in-person votes will be counted first and show Trump ahead.
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