Breaking News
Delay in Results due to COVID-19
Uncounted Votes
Americans should wait a bit as delays in election results are due to COVID-19 and uncounted votes. Knowing who won local or national races will need a little bit of patience. The good news is, the elections went smoother than expected.
RELATED: Trump on Universal Mail-In Voting: “You’re Never Going to Have a Fair Election”
Counting votes is a different beast altogether. Due to fears of acquiring COVID-19, a lot of voters chose to mail their ballots. And this is where the delays begin. Some states reported a surge in mail-in ballots that will need more time to count.
Based on this year’s primaries, counting mail votes can cause delays of more than a week in some areas. This happened in some key primaries in New York and Kentucky. Officials say that in the case of counting, accuracy is more important than speed.
Voting Wasn’t the Problem
During the November 4 elections, Americans went out to vote in record numbers. According to NBC News, at least 159.8 million Americans voted this year. This is the largest number of voters in a U.S. presidential election in history.
Yet, this was far from the record percentage of voters. Based on eligible voters, the 2020 elections boasted a 66.8% turnout rate. This pales in comparison to the 1876 elections when 82.6% of voters turned up to vote. Republican Rutherford Hayes won in a hotly-contested election versus Democrat Samuel Tilden.
Why do mail ballots take longer to count?
Unlike in-person voting, mail ballots are more complicated to count. Apart from having the machine read the ballot, mail votes need opening. Then, signatures will need verification, then the ballots folded to fit the machines.
Some locales may get hamstrung by budgetary constraints. They may need extra staff or extra machines to help hasten to count. Also, some states will accept ballots after the elections. They will need a postmarked date before or by Election day. This will stretch the counting for a few more days. Already, some states have received requests for extensions. They need more hours to accommodate the large number of mail-ins.
Case Study: Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is a case study. With only 11% of uncounted votes remaining, the President is hanging on to a slim 50.7%lead over Joe Biden’s 48.1%. Counting mail-in ballots here is the ultimate test of patience. Ballots feature two security envelopes, then officials must match signatures.
Besides, poll workers can only count mail-ballots starting at 7 am on Election Day. With 3 million mail-in ballots for counting, election officials requested an earlier start. The legislature did not approve of it.
Trump: “It’s a sign of trouble”
As Counting Begins, a Flood of Mail Ballots Complicates Vote Tallies https://t.co/UY0FO0rQwN
— Ion V. Sancho (@Ionsancho1) November 4, 2020
President Donald Trump thinks that a slow count is a sign of trouble. Last Sunday, he said: “I think it’s terrible that we can’t know the results of an election the night of the election. I think it’s a terrible thing when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over.”
The President earlier said he opposes universal vote-by-mail. Also, he doesn’t support automatic mailing ballots to registered voters. He said that these instances can invite fraud. Trump did say he is all right with states where a voter must request a mail-in ballot in advance.
Research showed recorded instances of mailed-in voter fraud. Investigators found most incidents as isolated cases. Election officials assured voters that there are safeguards in place.
Given the pandemic, it makes sense for people to vote by mail. They fear unnecessary contact with other people in a crowded polling center. This is why voters returned a record 64 million mail-in ballots before Election Day. The sheer number alone would make it certain of the need for extra days for counting.
Long Wait
It’s only a matter of time before we find out who won the elections. The longer we’re subjected to wait, the more doubts can creep in. Improvements to the voting system need serious consideration. While we’re at it, we may want to think of a system that’s pandemic-proof.
Given the state of the voting system, especially the mail-in votes, delays have become inevitable. Add the individual states’ peculiarity in rules, and we will find close fights getting more complicated. Without improvements, we hope the counting won’t reach the point where it becomes intolerable. Otherwise, it will be more than Covid-19 and uncounted votes that will cause a delay in election results.
Watch this as Fox 4 Now explains why election result delays are common:
Loading ...Do you find the delays in the vote-counting acceptable? Let us know what you think by sharing your experiences or comments below.
UP NEXT:
33 Comments
ALL THE VOTES SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN SINCE NOV 3rd AT 8PM. Delays and late ballot countings are not acceptable. Fraud is the number one reason this is delayed.
The mail in voting caused a mess, exactly what the media and the crooked dirty Dems wanted!!!
We can send people to the moon but can’t count ballots
Such a mess it’s a shame for our country
If the votes didn’t get there by November 3 they shouldn’t count. Procrastination is not an excuse. Most got their mail in ballots weeks before the election but waited until the last second to mail them out. They are irresponsible.
We all had expectations of this, therefore we should have been better prepared. We are going to be know as the “generation of excuses”, because we allowed this to happen.
The greatest and smartest country in the world and we could not prepare for all these ballots when some early voting started as early as almost two months before the election. Fraud at its best when you can hold no one accountable
No excuse for this, rules should have been set and then followed. Just imagine a NFL game your on the 2 yard line 2 points down with 3 seconds to go…..then the NFL organization says NO were going to add 5 more minutes on the clock when Thats not the standard rules. Just because the people who own the NFL had bet 8 billion dollars on the game. So change the rules so you can get the out come you need…….the united States is headed down a bad direction, morals are shot. Next thing will be put the elderly to death to save money on health care like Nazi did. We can all kill the babies and smoke dope and inject mushrooms now also. Its all good, maybe I can bang my nurse in the retirement home when Im old. OHHHHHHHH Flush the toilet!!!!!
I believe there are safeguards in place and that although fraud is always possible, it is more likely the outcome will be as accurate as possible. However, having said that, I do also believe that the lack of preparedness of resources and automation to do the physical counting was a failure. Knowing the circumstances surrounding the increase in mail in ballots should have triggered additional safeguards such as stricter deadlines and increased manpower to accelerate the process.
I I am embarrassed That our elected officials all this money they get paid and they can’t even get the voting process correct they were not prepared they are a disappointment and it’s a shame what they’re doing to President Trump he won fair and square and they are cheating I’m Embarrassed I live in Pennsylvania and the cheating and the Dishonestly is going on my wife and myself voted and we don’t even know if it counted my whole family voted and we are so hurt over our country and Disappointed
BS man walked on moon. This is pure fraud like Mr. President said would happen
Yes I agree
The USA is Now Officially a 3rd World Banana Republic on the way to Full Blown Communism kinda like The United States of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba & Ching Chong Chicom Snakeheadland.
What a sad state of affairs here with this election. I really do hope they prosecute all those involved.
The results should’ve been in by 8 PM on Election Day!
We are not a Third World country, we have electronics! If Florida could do it, the whole country could do it!
Everyone had plenty of time to get their absentee ballot mailed before Nov 3rd. I think they should have made the absentee ballots be in by Oct 31st, then they would have had enough time to count them before Nov 3rd.
45 states had no problem counting ballots.
What good are poll watchers if they can’t see the ballots at all? Even a bald eagle can’t discern at ballot’s authenticity from 25 ft! To determine if a ballot is signed as well as any other critical factors requires they must be at page reading distance.This is a no-brainer but then again these crooked liberal states must think Republican poll watchers have no brain. I also want to know how a state judge has authority rule on a federal election violation complaint. These lib judges have no standing to rule on federal election fraud cases. Their bad decisions must be bumped up to federal courts. Why is this not happening to date yet? Perhaps this evening’s Presidential news conference will address this. So far the Republicans have not shown any real anger at these blatant law breakers.
You cannot keep using covid as a scapegoat for every wrong thing decided by those careless and lacking integrity.
a particular state, it says a certain number of registered voters,, yet the count is over 100000 more than the amount of voters in the state ????? How is this possible ???? !!!!!!!!!!! If this isn’t voter fraud,, what other evidence is needed ??????????
FRAUD >> Can you say RIGGED?
Just what the dems wanted & planned
all along.
I live in WI. and I am ashamed at the crap the Democrats are trying to pull! Stay strong- we are with you 100% and you will win in the end! WE LOVE YOU!
This delay and confusion was all planned! Consider all the deceit going on for the past 4 years with the Democratic Party against President Trump. Did the Democratic Party do anything else besides planning the next deceitful event? I live in Central Wisconsin. I would say that the Democratic stronghold is from Dane and Milwaukee counties. Central, northern, eastern and western counties would be strongly conservative. I am surprised Wisconsin is blue… Yes, stay strong Wisconsinites!!!!
State election laws need to be revisited based on lessons learned regarding drop off and mailed ballots. Colorado has used voting by mail for years. It works.
States may also want to reassess whether mail in votes should be postmarked by Election Day or received by the Election Day. Accepting postmarked by Election Day extends the time needed to count ballots.
The way the Democrats has been crooked and illegal doing the Obama , Biden and Clinton dealings and all investigating of Trump you can understand why anyone would think it may be crooked , they have not been nothing done to them about all the illegal stuff they done. They seen to be getting away with everything
All states should have been more prepared. We vote every four years, why can’t they have a better and secure system. I don’t believe this is because of covid. I believe the left is beyond honesty. They will do anything to get there way.
The way the Democrats has been crooked and illegal doing the Obama , Biden and Clinton dealings and all investigating of Trump you can understand why anyone would think it may be crooked , they have not been nothing done to them about all the illegal stuff they done. They seen to be getting away with everything
The first thing the Democrats did was remove God from their platform. And since they now don’t believe in God, there is NO REASON to be honest. They cheat because they have NO reason not to IF THEY CAN AVOID BEING CAUGHT. As with Hillary and her crimes, sometimes it does not matter if you are caught. They still get away with it UNTIL THEY FACE GOD.
You say that mail in voting works in Colorado??? I say it does not What is my proof? A democrat Governor and now a Democrat senator.
This is an absolute disgrace . We all know that Trump won even amidst all the treasonous b/s they put him and his administration through the past 4 years. Don’t back down people, let your voices of disapproval be heard all the way to DC. These cheating rat s need to be removed and if not now, then when? I don’t foresee America the beautiful if we don’t unite and fight for her
COVID 19. Was an excuse used by the demorats to pull all kinds of shenanigans with mail in ballots. There is evidence of fraud in all the key states!!! The laws need to be adjusted so that each vote is verified as legal. The demorats specialize in dead people voting, ilegal aliens and voters who vote multiple times. They have no sense of civility or respect for our country or it’s Constitution!
The mail in ballot system has many flaws in it. Did they find bunches of ballots in the trash in several states? Its not regulated enough. The mail in ballots should have an earlier dead line and it you did not mail it in time. Sorry. People are told constantly when it has to be in, yet people are not listening. Mail in ballots can be so fraudulent.
The delay in voting under any circumstances is unconstitutional and fraud. all ballots are to be closed by the third and no later . late or unverified valid ID should not be counted mail in voting is fraud unless Requested absentee voting is requested. any other is fraud .Under no circumstances is mail in voting should be an excuse . Not allowing monitors or being transparent at all time is also against the law. This a clear and present danger for fraud.