2020 US Elections: States Also Have Various Deadlines for Receiving Absentee Ballots
Three days after the polls closed, the United States and the world still do not have the final results of the presidential elections, although Democrat Joe Biden came close to ousting Donald Trump.
The wait has fueled tension in the polarized nation, with Trump claiming without evidence that Democrats are engineering fraud.
But the delay was long-awaited, often for reasons specific to individual states, which under the US system each conduct their own surveys:
Competitive states take longer
California, the nation’s most populous state, was quickly recalled by Biden after the polls closed on Tuesday. But such calls are, in fact, media projections rather than official results, which means it takes more time to get an accurate picture in tightly divided states.
“The closer the races are, the longer they take,” Kathy Boockvar, secretary of the vital state of Pennsylvania, told reporters.
States also have various deadlines for receiving absentee ballots, especially those from the military or other citizens living abroad.
North Carolina has refrained from counting at least 171,000 ballots, which could make a difference, as by law it accepts votes that arrive by mail through Nov. 12, as long as they are postmarked for Election Day.
Similarly, Nevada, which also has a tight race, will count Election Day postmarked ballots as long as they arrive before November 10.
Provisional ballots, which are sent to voters if there is confusion about their registration and they need verification, also cause delays.
Deluge of mail ballots
With concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic, states accustomed to a limited number of absentee votes have been inundated with ballots mailed by citizens who do not want to risk voting in person.
Some 65.2 million of the record 160 million Americans who voted this year did so by mail, according to an estimate by the US Election Project.
In Pennsylvania, the Republican-led legislature rejected an effort to allow authorities to count before Election Day, contributing to the scenario in which its largest city, Philadelphia, a Democratic stronghold, reported returns last.
Some places have unique factors that delay vote counting, such as Chatham County in Georgia, where an electoral division and a registration board examine the ballots separately.
Legal challenges
The Trump campaign took advantage of the delay to demand that the count stop in states where it is behind, particularly in Pennsylvania, whose Republican Party reached out to the US Supreme Court.
Republicans had been fighting for months against allowing Pennsylvania to count Election Day postmarked ballots if they arrived on Friday.
In Wisconsin, where Biden scored a narrow victory in the results released early Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that only votes received on Election Day would be counted.
Most states allow rival parties to observe the count, but the rule challenges have taken time, and Trump supporters have had a particular problem with the Philadelphia rule that observers stay at least 15 feet. (4.5 meters) away due to Covid risks.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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