Top election officials and
several key states including
Pennsylvania have warned we may
not see final results on
election night.
Jessica Huseman is the editorial
director of votebeat, a news
organization dedicated to
elections and the voting
process.
She joins us now.
Welcome back.
I just want to say, the newshour
wants as much transparency as
possible about vote counting,
reporting on these results on
election night, given the
questions and suspicion that
turned out to be unfounded in
2020.
Why might election results in
Pennsylvania be delayed on
election night?
Jessica: Pennsylvania is one of
a few number of states that does
not allow any preprocessing of
mailed ballots.
Prior to election day.
Local election workers can't
even open the envelope the
ballots came in until the day of
the election.
If you have ever sorted through
a lot of mail, you know that is
a time-consuming process.
Given the popularity of mail-in
ballots, it will take a little
while logistically to get
through all of those and do it
safely and securely and
accurately.
Judy: Overall, we know
Pennsylvania has this rule, this
law, not every state does, but
there have been questions raised
about mail-in ballots.
Remind us what those questions
are and how much -- how worried
people should be about counting
those ballots.
Jessica: I will stay from the
outset that people shouldn't
worry.
This is a very secure way to
cast your ballot.
Studies have shown that for
years.
Vote by mail was largely a
Republican innovation
popularized in the last few
decades, so to see the
Republican party turned so far
against it has been striking to
watch good there underlining --
the underlying claims, which are
all false, is that there are
inherent risks of fraud in the
mail in system, which is wrong,
there are checks good they say
it is possible to cast fake
ballots, and there are backstops
for that as well.
It is frustrating and a bit of a
puzzling talking point given the
history of the issue.
Judy: Jessica, one of the other
questions as you know very well
has been raised is around hand
counting of ballots versus
automatic accounting.
Remind us what the questions are
and how we should look upon
that.
Jessica: Sure.
There has been a movement for
some time to move toward hand
cast paper ballots, which is you
marking in a little bubble and
some to get paper ballot.
Recently there has been a lot of
fervor around actually counting
those votes by hand as well.
The argument goes we have done
it a long time, that's how we
used to count ballots, what is
wrong with it, why involve
technology?
We got rid of it because it
didn't work.
There are so many more races on
the ballots now, so many more
votes to count and study after
study has shown ballot scanning
and automated counting processes
are a lot more accurate than
counting by hand.
But still, counties across the
country are considering this.
A county in Arizona is
considering it as we speak.
Judy: One county in Arizona.
But in general, what people can
count on, the machinery, the
electronics that count ballots,
to be safe and accurate.
Let me back up a little bit --
what should people expect on
election night in terms of what
may come in on time right away
and what might not?
Jessica: You know, I think we
will see that most states have
results when you expect they
will have results.
The midterm elections are lower
turnout affairs, more people are
counting ballots by mail, and in
most states they can go ahead
and process those ballots.
In states like Texas and
Arizona, the counting is already
underway as ballots start to
come in.
In states like Pennsylvania, we
will see a lag in time for it to
take until we know the results.
Please pay attention to your
state's website.
When your state releases
results, the secretary of state
or chief elections officer in
your state will make that
confirmation.
But there is a lot of
misinformation going around and
I would encourage people to look
at their county and state
elections websites for the most
updated information.
Judy: Quickly, that's what I
wanted to ask you, you hear
people raising that question
from time to time -- if I don't
know the results right away,
something must be going on.
Jessica: Definitely not true.
The election is going to take
several days to be counted in a
few places and it will take even
longer than that to be
certified.
Official results will not be
available for several days after
the election and that is as it
always has been.
Judy: Jessica, we thank you very
much.