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This is the sixth congressional election I've covered, so I wanted to share a story about one of those races that may help address this question about knowing the results on election night.
My election year here was 2010 and I covered two congressional races that year. One of the races I covered: Then-Rep. Dan Maffei vs. Ann Marie Buerkle. Before Election Day, Maffei was a near-lock to win. Even though Buerkle surged late, the thought was that Maffei would hold on.
Election Day that year was on Nov. 2. When the results started coming in, it was clear that it was close. Initially, we wrote a story (that wound up in our print edition) saying that Maffei had a 2,000-vote lead. What that didn't include: results from Wayne County.
Once the results were in from Wayne County, Buerkle took a 659-vote lead. Since there were more than 11,000 absentee ballots to count, the race couldn't be called. A winner wouldn't be known for at least a week.
"A week" was a liberal estimate at the time. It actually took longer than that. At the time, the district included all or parts of four counties: Cayuga, Monroe, Onondaga and Wayne. Because Cayuga and Monroe had small portions of the district, their absentees were counted first.
Onondaga County finished its count, and it became clear that Buerkle would probably win. The Wayne count confirmed that. She won by 648 votes when all the ballots were counted.
But it's important to note the timing. It took more than two weeks for all the counties to count the absentee ballots, which would be done anyway but tends to get more attention when there's a close race.
Once it was clear that Maffei wasn't going to win, he called Buerkle to concede. This was Tuesday, Nov. 23 — three weeks after Election Day. Buerkle held a presser later that day at her campaign office. I remember rushing from Auburn to cover it.
It is true that most races can be called on election night. But if it's close after the early voting/election night tally, then you need the absentees to decide the election. In such a scenario, you wouldn't call the race on election night. It would be too close to call.
This has happened countless times before 2020. So when it happens tomorrow night, don't be surprised! You've been warned: This is a possibility. Every vote matters, and every vote should be counted.
