Buckle up!

Election-results-explainer mini-tweetstorm!

An election is not a reality show with a guaranteed big reveal at the end of the hour. The election isn’t over until we count all the votes. Here’s what to keep in mind as the week goes forward.  

1/8 https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1321209108100489223

We do *not* need to know the results of the election on Election Night, and frequently, we haven’t! 

As Princeton history prof @KevinMKruse and I wrote in @NYTimes in May: “Take Some Deep Breaths and Prepare to Wait for Election Results”:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/opinion/2020-election-results-delay.html

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Historian Michael @BeschlossDC notes just how ordinary it is not to know the Presidential election winner on Election Night. We’ve waited past midnight in 40% of the presidential elections in the past 60 years: 1960, 1968, 1976, 2000, 2004, and 2016.

https://twitter.com/beschlossdc/status/1322993565199380491

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If anyone tells you that all votes must be counted Election Night, point them to Alaska: All absentee ballots and any ballots cast in person during early voting this past weekend won’t even *begin* to be counted until *seven days after Election Day*. 

https://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/alaskavotecountingsystems.php

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And while we would *all* like to know the results of the presidential election immediately, the first federal deadline for states to get their counts in isn’t until Dec. 8!

The Congressional Research Service ( @CRS4Congress) brings the receipts:

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11641

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As tallies come in, I will count on @AP’s election projections: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2020

Here are some other election projections you can trust:

• ABC: https://abcnews.go.com/Elections 

• CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/2020-election-live-updates-2020-11-02/

• NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election

• CNN: https://www.cnn.com/election/2020 

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A lot goes into certifying vote totals. In 2016, Pennsylvania laid out all the canvasses, reviews, and reconciliations that it takes to arrive at an official result:

https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/how-pennsylvania-certifies-vote-after-every-election/

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As I have said, the first part of the Election – the Voting – ends on Tuesday.

Then the equally important second part – the Counting – gets rolling everywhere.

The election is not over until all the validly cast ballots are counted. That is how we know for sure who wins.

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