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Voters across New York state may have to wait longer than usual for election results to come in, as coronavirus-related changes to voting could delay the process by several days or even weeks.

Nearly all 50 states, including New York, have allowed residents to vote early or by mail in addition to coming to the polls in person on Election Day. While these new voting policies have expanded access to voting for many, they may also mean that election results for some races could come in days after the last ballot is cast.

With only hours until the polls open, here’s a breakdown of when voters can expect election results to arrive:

What does voting look like in New York this year?

New York state has allowed voters to request a mail-in ballot or vote early if they are concerned about contracting or spreading COVID-19.

As of Sunday afternoon, nearly 3 million New York residents had already cast their ballots, according to the US Election Project. About 2.5 million people voted early in person while almost 850,000 sent their ballots in by mail.
Of the 308,296 registered voters in Onondaga County, more than 59,000 cast their ballots early, according to the county’s board of elections.

Early voting for the general election started Oct. 24 and ran until Nov. 1. Residents who have not yet mailed their ballots can still drop them off at a polling place on Election Day.

How are votes counted in New York?

New York voters will cast their ballots in several state and local elections this year, including the state’s 24th Congressional District, the New York State Senate and Assembly, the New York Supreme Court and the Syracuse City Court.

While New York begins counting in-person votes as soon as the polls close, the state will not begin counting mail-in ballots until Nov. 6 at the earliest due to state voting law. Counties can decide on their own when they will begin counting mail-in ballots after that date, according to the state’s Board of Elections.

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Onondaga County will not start counting absentee ballots until Nov. 9, said Dustin Czarny, Onondaga County Board of Elections commissioner.

Under state law, each ballot in New York must be cross-checked to ensure that voters who voted by mail didn’t also vote in person. New York counties also must audit 3% of their in-person votes before they can begin counting absentee ballots.

Previous difficulties

New York state already faced issues counting mail-in ballots during the state’s primary in June.

In New York City, it took over six weeks to count all of the mail-in ballots for two congressional races. Several ballots could have been wrongfully disqualified after the postal service did not process them correctly, according to The New York Times.

Some voters also didn’t receive their ballots until the day before the primary, making it difficult to return them in time, the Times reported. Some student voters told The Daily Orange that they have encountered challenges requesting and mailing their ballots this year, even days before the election.

When will state and local results be available?

Results from in-person early voting in Onondaga County will be available starting at 9 p.m. on election night, and results from Election Day voting will become available starting at 10 p.m., Czarny said. By midnight on election night, all of the results from early voting and Election Day voting will be available on the Onondaga County Board of Elections website, he said.

Starting Nov. 9, the board of elections will give daily reports on absentee ballot results, Czarny said. By the time county officials begin counting these votes, there will probably only be 5,000 or 10,000 additional mail-in ballots.

Czarny said he expects three-quarters of the results to be available on election night, but the county will likely not be done counting mail-in ballots until the end of next week.

While the county will have to wait until all the results are in to call races within five percentage points, Czarny said the majority of mail-in ballots came from Democratic voters. This means it will be fairly clear on election night how the smaller, local races will turn out, he said.

When will we know who won the presidency?

When the results of the presidential election will be available is a “toss up,” Czarny said.

According to the US Elections Project, about 60 million voters opted to send in their ballots by mail. But like New York, many states don’t begin counting these votes until well after polls close.

Consequently, key battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan could take until Friday to report their results, according to the Times.

While some states such as Wyoming, North Carolina, Kentucky and Alabama told the Times they would have their results on election night, the majority of the states said they would have their results by Wednesday. But in states like Alaska and Indiana, it may take several days or at least a week to count all of the ballots.

Other states also don’t require their mail-in ballots to arrive by Election Day, which could extend the amount of time it takes to know the results. In Kansas, voters are allowed to mail their ballots as late as Friday, while Ohio still counts ballots that are received by Nov. 13, over a week after Election Day.

Despite how long it may take to count ballots, some states have a deadline to report their results. New York’s deadline is Nov. 28, which is over four weeks after Election Day.

Published on November 2, 2020 at 10:22 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss