Why does it take so long for all votes to be counted? (1 Viewer)

[eoMMan]

With more and more states allowing in person early voting and mail in voting, why does it take so for all votes to be counted?

If the argument is that the USPS is taking too long, why not just tell people ahead of time it has to be postmarked by X date (which is a little sooner than originally figured). If that's an issue, they can still vote in person.

I'm seeing news reports of long lines of people waiting to vote. This is 2020. It really should be more advanced and faster than it is. Someone get Elon Musk to fix it.

 

[popeye]

It's easy to forget to carry the 1.

 

[BassNBrew]

Here in NC we can drop the ballot in the mail today by 5 and it has arrive by November the 12th.  

 

[TheMagus]

With more and more states allowing in person early voting and mail in voting, why does it take so for all votes to be counted?

If the argument is that the USPS is taking too long, why not just tell people ahead of time it has to be postmarked by X date (which is a little sooner than originally figured). If that's an issue, they can still vote in person.

I'm seeing news reports of long lines of people waiting to vote. This is 2020. It really should be more advanced and faster than it is. Someone get Elon Musk to fix it.

I can answer for PA. 

We have no in-person early voting. 

This was the first election ever where no-excuse absentee ballots were even an option.

By law, PA cannot even start processing the mail-in ballots they received, let alone count them, until 7:00 am this morning. I saw projections that 60% of the state was voting by mail-in ballot. It is going to take a long time to get through that.

As to the why..... you'd have to ask the Republicans in the state legislature.

 

[dgreen]

My guess is mail ballots are being processed manually by having individuals physically look at each one. We don't need Elon Musk to fix that because a tech solution has existed for that for many years.

 

[BobbyLayne]

With more and more states allowing in person early voting and mail in voting, why does it take so for all votes to be counted?

If the argument is that the USPS is taking too long, why not just tell people ahead of time it has to be postmarked by X date (which is a little sooner than originally figured). If that's an issue, they can still vote in person.

I'm seeing news reports of long lines of people waiting to vote. This is 2020. It really should be more advanced and faster than it is. Someone get Elon Musk to fix it.

Different rules about when states can begin tallying votes is the answer I beleive.

 

[eoMMan]

Here in NC we can drop the ballot in the mail today by 5 and it has arrive by November the 12th.  

See...that's just silly. NC should be banned from voting because of that dumb process. 

 

[BobbyLayne]

When To Expect Election Results In Every State

A complete guide to poll closing times, vote counting and races to watch on election night 2020

We should have a pretty good idea of where things are headed on election night, even if no candidate is able to clinch 270 electoral votes (which is the threshold required to win) until later in the week. We should get near-complete results in

Florida in a matter of hours; Arizona and North Carolina will release the vast majority of their ballots very quickly, although if the race is too close to call they may not provide a final answer for days. Georgia and Texas should tally most ballots on Nov. 3, but counting may stretch into Wednesday or Thursday. We should know the winner in Wisconsin by Wednesday morning; Michigan and Pennsylvania, by contrast, will probably take until the end of the week.

 

[eoMMan]

My guess is mail ballots are being processed manually by having individuals physically look at each one. We don't need Elon Musk to fix that because a tech solution has existed for that for many years.

Just seems so odd that in years past, this was settled way sooner. It shouldn't be getting slower as move into the future. 

 

[BassNBrew]

I guess I will post this here.  One of my employees went to vote today and was told someone else registered her to vote in a different county.  She had to cast a provision ballot and the situation will have to be reviewed.

 

[Doug B]

Here in NC we can drop the ballot in the mail today by 5 and it has arrive by November the 12th.  

See...that's just silly. NC should be banned from voting because of that dumb process. 

Nothing silly about it. The NC vote is still cast on Election Day. No official state counts are ever completed within even several days after an election. Instead, observers can usually (not 100% of the time) call states because the apparent margin of victory is large enough so that recount changes won't matter.

 

[Bamboo Bill]

Why is the timing of vote counting and getting it done correctly so much of an issue this year? Why was it never an issue in previous elections?

 

[BassNBrew]

Why is the timing of vote counting and getting it done correctly so much of an issue this year? Why was it never an issue in previous elections?

So many mail in votes in this year of the pandemic.

 

[eoMMan]

Nothing silly about it. The NC vote is still cast on Election Day. No official state counts are ever completed within even several days after an election. Instead, observers can usually (not 100% of the time) call states because the apparent margin of victory is large enough so that recount changes won't matter.

Gonna have to disagree. Technically, it wasn't cast on election day. It was in transit.

Why would it be a problem to have it mailed sooner if you choose to do the mail in vote route?

 

[gianmarco]

I don't understand how we haven't transitioned to online voting yet. There's no reason this can't happen for 2024. 

Option for in person and mail-in voting should still be in place for anyone without means to vote online, but it would simplify and expedite the process significantly and likely save significant money as well.

 

[JAA]

Why is the timing of vote counting and getting it done correctly so much of an issue this year? Why was it never an issue in previous elections?

2000 and dangling chads:  hold my beer

 

[BassNBrew]

I don't understand how we haven't transitioned to online voting yet. There's no reason this can't happen for 2024. 

Option for in person and mail-in voting should still be in place for anyone without means to vote online, but it would simplify and expedite the process significantly and likely save significant money as well.

Agree 100%.  That said, unemployment benefits were switched to online and people still haven't received payments from March/April.

Do you think this is possible without the threat of hacking to manipulate vote totals?  At least the storage system we have now gives us a re-count backup.

 

[Anarchy99]

Why is the timing of vote counting and getting it done correctly so much of an issue this year? Why was it never an issue in previous elections?

Because Democrats are expected to vote en masse by mail while the majority of Republicans will go the polls. So Trump wants to have the lead by the end of today, stake his claim to victory, and then try to curb processing of mail in ballots and/or claim fraud.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Just seems so odd that in years past, this was settled way sooner. It shouldn't be getting slower as move into the future. 

umm...a factor we’ve never dealt with is how many votes are coming through the mail bc pandemic

this ain’t rocket science brother

 

[beef]

I guess I will post this here.  One of my employees went to vote today and was told someone else registered her to vote in a different county.  She had to cast a provision ballot and the situation will have to be reviewed.

Is she married to Opie?  

 

[gianmarco]

Agree 100%.  That said, unemployment benefits were switched to online and people still haven't received payments from March/April.

Do you think this is possible without the threat of hacking to manipulate vote totals?  At least the storage system we have now gives us a re-count backup.

If I can submit my full tax records complete with social security number and virtually every piece of information about me online to the IRS, then there is a way to vote securely online. Other countries have figured it out. And apparently any attempt to hack elections have been stopped 100% of the time. 

ETA -- Not to mention internet banking, investing, etc that all is managed pretty securely on a daily basis. Managing a singular voting event should be within the realm of possibility without too much concern of safety. 

 

[BobbyLayne]

Because Democrats are expected to vote en masse by mail while the majority of Republicans will go the polls. So Trump wants to have the lead by the end of today, stake his claim to victory, and then try to curb processing of mail in ballots and/or claim fraud.

this is known

I have faith justice will prevail 

this is America, we don’t have a dictator or king who gets to decide which votes count

elections are run by states and administered locally 

federally elected officials can pontificate all they want

does not change the process 

 

[BassNBrew]

If I can submit my full tax records complete with social security number and virtually every piece of information about me online, then there is a way to vote securely online. Other countries have figured it out. And apparently any attempt to hack elections have been stopped 100% of the time. 

What countries have figured it out?  I have to imagine the US would have the ultimate target on their back.  We have seen local governments hacked and held up for ransom.

 

[BobbyLayne]

If I can submit my full tax records complete with social security number and virtually every piece of information about me online, then there is a way to vote securely online. Other countries have figured it out. And apparently any attempt to hack elections have been stopped 100% of the time. 

off topic (belongs in the how much voter fraud is happening thread) but my response to anyone arguing against your last point is why don’t we see more evidence? if there really is “millions and millions” of fraudulent voting going on, why don’t we have a shred of evidence there is systemic problem? instead we have people trying to take extremely low volume examples - mostly one offs - and declaring now just imagine how much of this happens unchecked and undiscovered.

its like people aren’t good at math. comically absurd.

 

[Anarchy99]

this is known

I have faith justice will prevail 

this is America, we don’t have a dictator or king who gets to decide which votes count

elections are run by states and administered locally 

federally elected officials can pontificate all they want

does not change the process 

I have a feeling that it won't be as close as some people are expecting and it won't come down to contesting results in one or two states or trying to rule out mailed in ballots. Worse case scenario is the election hinges on PA with Trump ahead tonight and he fights to expunge the mail-in ballots . . . and it goes to the SCOTUS to decide who the president will be.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Just seems so odd that in years past, this was settled way sooner. It shouldn't be getting slower as move into the future. 

It was?   Did I mis-remember the 2000 election?

 

[BobbyLayne]

I have a feeling that it won't be as close as some people are expecting and it won't come down to contesting results in one or two states or trying to rule out mailed in ballots. Worse case scenario is the election hinges on PA with Trump ahead tonight and he fights to expunge the mail-in ballots . . . and it goes to the SCOTUS to decide who the president will be.

it’s not a close election by any stretch. there are quite a few x-factors causing hand wringing and just the pandemic / mail-in stuff is unprecedented, and thus worrisome.

but I’m expecting the winner to have 351-413 electoral votes. for the 5th time in the last 6 election cycles, a clear win in the popular vote will emerge (though twice in that timespan we saw the popular vote candidate elected.)

everything’s gonna be fine.

maybe.

 

[Biff84]

Why is it a problem this year and not previously?

The volume of votes. In previous years mail in voting wasn’t enough to not be counted in a timely manner. And if it does take awhile, it didn’t have an impact on the outcome. I believe that in 2016 California was still counting votes a week later but it didn’t matter.

Why does it take so long?

I don’t know if the process is the same everywhere but at least some states require a representative from each party to review every ballot before it is counted. That’s time consuming especially if there are challenges on ballots. Then there’s the physical task of opening and sorting ballots.

In some states, specifically Pennsylvania, they’re not even allowed to open the ballots until 7 am this morning. In other states like Arizona and Florida they are opened and processed as they come in, causing the huge difference of when votes get processed and counted.

 

[BobbyLayne]

In some states, specifically Pennsylvania, they’re not even allowed to open the ballots until 7 am this morning. In other states like Arizona and Florida they are opened and processed as they come in, causing the huge difference of when votes get processed and counted.

This is a big factor, especially this year.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Been mentioned upthread I believe but if not....

Not sure why we think tallying has to be substantially completed today.

Which is more important? Timeliness or accuracy? Knowing the result quickly or ensuring all votes are counted?

 

[Nugget]

Gonna have to disagree. Technically, it wasn't cast on election day. It was in transit.

Why would it be a problem to have it mailed sooner if you choose to do the mail in vote route?

Some people hadn't received their mail in ballots in a timely manner.  Married couple I know - husband received his ballot from the state on Friday - As of Monday morning wife hadn't received.  She will need to go an vote a provisional ballot in person now.  States dragged their feet on this to varying degrees.

 

[Anarchy99]

I saw somewhere today that PA had 2.5 mailed in ballots to count (and they could not open any of them until today) . . . and that does not count what was received today. Some counties already indicated that with limited staff to coordinate Election Day activities, they won't even start counting the mailed in ballots until tomorrow. The part that potentially makes things problematic is that 75% of them are for Biden . . . which is why Trump is not interested in counting them.

 

[Doug B]

Nothing silly about it. The NC vote is still cast on Election Day. No official state counts are ever completed within even several days after an election. Instead, observers can usually (not 100% of the time) call states because the apparent margin of victory is large enough so that recount changes won't matter.

Gonna have to disagree. Technically, it wasn't cast on election day. It was in transit.

Why would it be a problem to have it mailed sooner if you choose to do the mail in vote route?

Gonna disagree right back

 

[apalmer]

Votes have NEVER been completely counted on election day. For example, military absentee ballots can arrive 10 days after election day and still be counted. The difference this year is that eith so many mail-in balloys, it's the first time in decades that the tv networks won't feel comfortable calling it on election night. 

 

[gianmarco]

What countries have figured it out?  I have to imagine the US would have the ultimate target on their back.  We have seen local governments hacked and held up for ransom.

Estonia

Another article

 

[parrot]

Why is it a problem this year and not previously?

The volume of votes. In previous years mail in voting wasn’t enough to not be counted in a timely manner. And if it does take awhile, it didn’t have an impact on the outcome. I believe that in 2016 California was still counting votes a week later but it didn’t matter.

Why does it take so long?

I don’t know if the process is the same everywhere but at least some states require a representative from each party to review every ballot before it is counted. That’s time consuming especially if there are challenges on ballots. Then there’s the physical task of opening and sorting ballots.

In some states, specifically Pennsylvania, they’re not even allowed to open the ballots until 7 am this morning. In other states like Arizona and Florida they are opened and processed as they come in, causing the huge difference of when votes get processed and counted.

My kids are both working the election today; one of the big things that takes time is signature comparison.  Mail-in ballots have to be signed and they compare every signature to the one on file for the voter.  That's why all the "sent in the ballots for my dead parents!" crap from people like Huckabee  is idiotic.  They don't just accept every ballot.