Election Day is November 3, but Americans have been weighing in on races up and down the ballot for weeks. That’s because most states offer some form of early voting, either in person or by mail, and eligible voters are taking advantage. Here’s what you need to know about casting your ballot and what to expect after polls close.
Every state has a different set of laws and rules outlining how and when residents can vote. States have election-related websites, often through the secretary of state’s office, with information on what eligible voters need to know. If you voted early, most states allow you to track your ballot.
Some states will also notify voters if there is an error on their ballot, giving them time to fix or “cure” their ballots. Voting advocacy organizations recommend that eligible voters know their legal rights when casting a ballot. It can take a while in some states for all ballots to be counted.
The fact that states have different rules and deadlines for administering elections — which can mean election results are released at different times on election night and afterward — is not a sign of voter suppression or fraud. There is no nationwide entity that collects and releases election results in America. But many media outlets gather data on vote counts and project the winners of elections.
Teams of journalists use election results data as it comes in, as well as information from past elections to project who won a given election. Not all ballots need to be counted or even received for these projections to be made. The 19th is again relying on Decision Desk HQ to project the winners of this year’s elections.
Decision Desk says it considers a number of factors in making calls, including how much of the vote has yet to be counted, where votes are coming from, and what types of votes (absentee, early, day of) are being reported. Major media networks have their own teams that project winners. Many news outlets also rely on the , which outlined its race-calling process here.
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