As I write, Americans trudge to the polls to mark ovals on paper, touch screens, use ballot-marking devices, and record their elections for president, Congress, state legislatures, and a host of other offices and ballot measures. Around 78 million Americans cast votes before Election Day, many of them by mail. Different systems are used, depending on each state’s preference, and rules vary as to when ballots can be counted and how they are recounted if necessary. If this sounds like it adds a level of complexity to vote counting, you’re right. That’s why we’ll probably all have to be a little patient before the results of this year’s elections are finalized.

A two-week delay in votes in a key county

“The outcome of the presidential race could depend on Maricopa County, and election officials warn it could take nearly two weeks to count all the votes,” Phoenix’s CBS affiliate said. reported last week. “With more than 2.5 million active voters, Maricopa County is the third largest voting jurisdiction in the country and one of the most hotly contested areas in the race for the White House. The county expects it to take 10 to 13 days to count all the votes, which is consistent with previous years.”

Arizona is a swing state that went for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 because less than 11,000 votes. Thus, with 2.5 million dollars from the state 4.368 million voters In a county that has already warned that vote counting will take some time, we could all be waiting a while for some pretty important election results.

Or perhaps Americans will have to wait until Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or one of the other swing states. Even if the presidential race is decided relatively quickly, control of Congress could remain up in the air as we wait for the outcome of the election. few house races that are really at stake.

Voting procedures vary across the country

How votes are cast, processed and counted varies from state to state, and even between jurisdictions within some states. According Verified votewhich promotes “the responsible use of technology in elections,” 69.9 percent of American voters live in jurisdictions that use hand-marked ballots. Another 25.1 percent use ballot marking devices that electronically present choices to voters and then print human-readable paper ballots that are counted. Five percent use electronic direct recording systems that are completely digital and the results are stored in computer memory.

While 78 million votes were issued before Election Day, that does not mean they have already been counted. Some states, including Arizona, count them as they arrive, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, although the results must be kept secret under penalty of law. Those votes can be cast at early voting centers or by mail, especially in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington, where, Ballopedia gradesVoting by mail is the main means of voting. However, in other states, including swing states like Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, counting cannot begin until Election Day. Early voting in those states makes things easier for voters, but not necessarily for poll workers.

Maricopa County’s delay, then, is not the result of a mountain of early ballots, but of an especially long 2024 ballot and the laborious process of processing and verifying “early” ballots that are held up until the last minute. and they deliver. on election day.

There may be a lot of those last-minute, not-so-early votes because voting this year is daunting. North of Maricopa, in Yavapai County, I counted 13 ballot measures across the state, plus the various federal, state, and local offices. We also have a local measure, as do other jurisdictions across the state. He What’s on my ballot? The “brochure” looks like an old phone book.

“I thought it might take a little time” to complete, Sophia Tesch said Washington Post on the Arizona ballot. “It took me 35 minutes.”

The long ballot has two pages, which must be entered separately into a tabulator to be counted. The machine may jam if fed too quickly. That requires more time and patience.

Mail-in votes are easier to cast than to count

Now, let’s imagine this scenario playing out across the country, especially now that mail-in voting has spread. become more popular. While voting early from home makes life much easier for voters, especially when the ballot looks like a Scantron test form, it adds complexity on the receiving end.

“Counting mail-in ballots takes longer because the process involves additional layers of processing and verification that in some states may not begin until Election Day.” TimeSimone Shah wrote in the run-up to the elections. “The ballots themselves must be opened, and verification sometimes involves matching a signature or photo identification.”

Additionally, some states, including Snowfallaccept ballots that are postmark before election day. That means not all ballots may be available to be counted until the end of the week. That shouldn’t add any extra excitement to what is already a suspenseful political season, right?

Recounts can keep the fun

Then, of course, there’s the fact that this presidential election is the closest to a 50/50 race we’ve ever seen between political candidates, and some of the races against are just as close. Many states have count of laws if the vote totals are within a narrow margin (0.5 percent in Arizona and Pennsylvania). In other states, candidates can request recounts if the margin is close (0.5 percent in Georgia1 percent in North Carolina).

With partisan high boiling point stresses In the United States, we can assume that no one will miss the opportunity to demand recounts in any race where the vote count is close and the results may depend on the interpretation of the disputed ballots. This is especially likely given that confidence in electoral procedures is doubtful. About sixty percent of Americans “are very or fairly confident that votes cast in the presidential election will be counted accurately in their state or by their local election officials.” according to AP-NORC. That figure drops to 48 percent in the national count.

That said, perhaps the polls have been wrong and this election will be decided by such overwhelming margins that delayed recounts in some areas won’t matter. So recounts will be beside the point. Clear victories could resolve questions about who wins, who loses and who holds office.

But chances are we’ll all have to wait a while to see how this election plays out.