As we approach Election Day, it’s important to remember that we will not have the official results on election night—this is a standard part of the elections process that allows for every eligible vote to be counted and checked. As in previous elections, the results reported on election night are the unofficial results and are considered official only when certain procedures are complete.
There are good reasons for this post-election period: it gives election officials time to process and count all eligible ballots (also called “canvassing”), including mail and absentee ballots, provisional ballots, and ballots from military and overseas voters. Mail ballots, in particular, can take longer to process depending on the state. They need to be verified, sorted, and prepared for counting, and in some states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, mail ballots can’t even start being processed until Election Day.
Quick results should never come at the expense of accuracy, and an election official’s job is not over on election night. After all of the ballots are counted, election workers check the vote count by conducting post-election audits, and in some cases, recounts. Learn more about audits and recounts by visiting our blog: “Audits and Recounts in 2024: What’s the Difference?” Audits and recounts help verify election outcomes and address any discrepancies or errors before the results are certified.
After election workers count all ballots and check the vote count, the election results are certified. Certifying the election results is required by law and is considered a ministerial process; depending on the state, the certification window ranges from nine days to a month. The results for presidential contests have historically been certified by the Safe Harbor deadline, which is the deadline for states to choose the electors for the Electoral College. This year, the deadline is December 11 – over a month after Election Day.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and anxiety of watching the precinct reporting on election night, or to tune out once the unofficial totals are announced—but election night is not results night, and that’s ok! After all, we need to give election officials time to check and verify the count. The strength of our democracy rests on every valid ballot being counted before declaring a winner.
A previous version of this blog, “We won’t have the official results on election night… and that’s normal!” was published on October 28, 2020.