

Florida starts processing ballots exceptionally early, and a decisive result in the state could foreshadow how the vote has shifted elsewhere since the last election, when Trump narrowly carried Florida.įlorida also has a long history with vote-by-mail, allowing any voter to request a ballot since 2002, meaning both voters and election administrators are familiar with the process. (Releasing results before polls close is a felony.)īecause of that head start, Florida is one state that could provide early signs about the 2020 election on election night. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed an executive order that allows the process to begin sooner, once a technical process called “logic and accuracy testing” is completed. How are votes processed?īallots can typically be processed and tallied starting 22 days before the election, but Florida Gov. When does in-person voting begin?Įarly voting runs, at a minimum, from Oct. When are mail-in ballots due?īallots must be received by the close of polls on Election Day. Absentee ballots can be requested online on county election supervisors’ websites. “We’ve had time in Arizona to build up that infrastructure and processes.”Īll registered voters are able to request a mail ballot. “Pennsylvania, Michigan, they’re doing large-scale vote-by-mail in ways that they haven’t done before,” she said. Hobbs is confident her state is prepared for November, citing the high number of voters in Arizona who already routinely vote via the mail. “I can testify to that from firsthand experience.” (Hobbs trailed in her 2018 race in early counts, before ultimately winning.) “It’s normal that results are not final on election night,” said Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. Paul Gosar recently reignited those same baseless charges that the final count was not accurate.


Sinema’s win prompted conspiracy theories from Trump at the time, and GOP Rep. In the 2018 Senate race, Republican Martha McSally led early before Democrat Kyrsten Sinema pulled ahead as all ballots were counted.
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The signature verification process can begin when the ballots are received, and tabulation can start two weeks before Election Day.Īrizona is no stranger to protracted vote counts and watching the lead in close races change hands. 7 and run through the Friday before Election Day. When does in-person voting begin?Įarly voting varies by county. (Voters not on the list can request a ballot online.) When are mail-in ballots due?īallots are due by the close of polls on Election Day. Ballots are not automatically being mailed to all voters, but Arizona has a permanent early voting list in the state that many voters have already signed up for. Here are the rules and procedures for voting and vote-counting in 13 battleground states.Įarly vote processing? YES How will voters get a mail-in ballot?Īll registered voters are able to request a mail ballot.
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“We should be prepared for this to be closer to an election week as opposed to an Election Day,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said recently on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The bottom line is we are not going to have the full results and a counting of all of our ballots on election night. The results explain both how votes are cast and, critically, when they are counted in the most important states in the 2020 election. We also collected data on the share of mail ballots returned in 2018, a rough baseline for the state’s experience with processing large amounts of election mail, from the Brennan Center for Justice, a voting rights organization.
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In every state but Florida, the office of the state’s chief election official answered a series of questions on how the state conducts its elections. POLITICO examined the voting process in 13 battleground states, surveying who is allowed to request a mail ballot, when election officials can start processing ballots and more. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Subscribe on Google PodcastsĪ handful of states including Ohio and Florida, another key battleground, allow election officials to process or even count mail ballots early, meaning they typically report results quickly even when there is heavy mail voting.īut the Midwestern trio that tipped the 2016 election will have to wait, with the reported results potentially shifting as ballots are tallied because Trump voters favor in-person voting and Biden voters favor mail voting this year, according to public and private polling and state absentee ballot request data.
