The waiting time after the election is expected to be slightly shorter than four years ago. The 2020 election had to wait up to five days, the longest election wait since 2000. The main reason for this was the widespread use of mail-in voting during the Covid-19 pandemic, which many states were not prepared to deal with quickly.
But experts say some states have since changed their policies and the number of mail-in votes could be lower this time. Which will help to speed up the process of result declaration. However, the final result may not be known on election night.
This year will be a little different, said Quinn Yeargain, associate professor of law at Michigan State University. Maybe not as fast as 2022, but I don't think it will take as long as 2020.
He also said that much was clear before the final results of the 2020 elections were announced. From Wednesday afternoon or Thursday onwards, there was basically not much question about the outcome of the election.
Before 2020, Americans were generally familiar with quick results announcements. The results were announced on Tuesday or Wednesday morning after the election. But four years ago, many turned to mail-in voting during the pandemic. As a result, the speed of counting of votes in the states slows down.
According to federal reports, mail-in voting in the 2020 election was more than 43 percent. Which is double compared to 2016 and 2018. Counting these large numbers of mail-in votes took time in the states, which gave rise to various conspiracy theories about the electoral process.
Yeargain said many states waited until Election Day to open mail-in ballots or verify signatures as required by law. Considerable time was required to fully process this large number of ballots.
Chris Mann, director of research at the Center for Electoral Process and Innovation Research, cited the closeness of the electoral contest as a reason for the delay in announcing the election results. In 2020, Biden won almost every important state by just one percentage point.
It is predicted that the election competition will be intense this year as well. As a result, it may become difficult for the press to announce the results. Mann said if the election result is very close, then the final result will have to wait.
Some states have changed their ballot processing policies before the election. Which will help in speeding up the result declaration process. In many states mail-in ballot processing can begin before Election Day. In almost half of the states, ballot machine scanning can also be done in advance.
However, the results of the states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will have an important impact on the election. If the results of these two states are delayed, the results may not be known quickly. Because ballot processing in these states cannot begin earlier than polling day.
Expert Pete Sitt said the more contested the election and the longer it takes, the greater the tension between the two sides.
He advised people to be patient. Because expecting quick results is a trend in modern society.
Usually the sooner the elections are over, the better the society will be able to get back to the way it was. However, analysts say, this year too, the competition for the election is likely to be fierce and we will have to wait for some time to know the results.
Source: AP
