First Polls Close in 2022 Midterm Elections

Georgia

For the Nov. 3, 2020, general election, Georgia counted approximately 95% of votes by noon the day after the election and finished counting at approximately 3:20 a.m. the day after that. A recount of the votes lasted until Nov. 19.

Georgia starts counting absentee/mail ballots at 7AM on election day. Runoffs: 50%+1 threshold for all congressional and state executive elections.

Requested recount: Where paper ballots are used and it appears there is a discrepancy or error, the superintendent may order a recount, or any candidate or political party may petition for one; when results are within 0.5% of total votes cast for the office, a losing candidate may request a recount.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania greatly expanded mail-in voting in late 2019, just before the pandemic hit, allowing it for nearly anyone. But county election workers can’t start to process those ballots until the morning of the election.

In 2020’s presidential election, the protracted counting of an unforeseen flood of mail-in ballots stretched for four days before news organizations could call the race for Joe Biden in Pennsylvania.

State election officials are cautioning that it may still take a few days to complete the count, although officials in Philadelphia and in the most heavily populated counties expect to finish the bulk of the counting the following morning.

Vote counting typically extends for several days. In 2020, counties reached 90% of statewide votes counted on Thursday evening — a full two days after polls closed. This year, the most heavily populated counties expect to report the bulk of their counting done by Wednesday morning.

Pennsylvania starts processing and counting ballots at 7AM on election day. Additionally, three randomly selected York County precincts will count ballots by hand.

Arizona

In Arizona
, so-called “late-early” votes will wait for tabulation in the coming days, because all require verification that they were signed by valid registered voters before being counted.

The earliest returns often don’t clearly show who will ultimately win. Waiting for all the Election Day votes to be counted is often needed to see who won, and it is also common for races to be too close to call until a substantial number of the “late-earlies” are tabulated in the following days.

Automatic recount: Less than or equal to 0.5% of the votes cast for both candidates or on a ballot measure.

Ohio

The deadline for mail ballots is Nov. 18 for domestic and overseas voters.

Automatic recount: 0.25% or less for statewide office or issue. 0.5% for other offices.

Absentee ballots: Return deadline is November 18.

Nevada

A few things have made Nevada slow at counting votes in recent elections. First, Nevada has had problems with long lines of voters at poll close.

The state won’t release vote counts until all voters who were in line at poll close have cast their vote. Second, in 2020, Nevada greatly expanded absentee voting, sending a ballot to every registered voter. The state passed legislation to do that in future elections as well.

Although Nevada starts processing absentee ballots upon receipt, clerks cannot start counting them until after polls close. Absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 8 get counted as long as they arrive by Nov. 12.

In 2020, nearly 15% of the vote was not reported until after election night, and it took three days for the state to report 100% of the vote.

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, none of the ballots cast, including absentee ballots returned weeks before Election Day, can be counted until after polls open on the day of the election. Not being able to process absentee ballots before 7 a.m. on Election Day has led to long waits for ballot results in Milwaukee in past elections.

High turnout elections with a large number of absentee ballots that require more time to process than ballots cast at the polls can lead to delayed results.

The Associated Press contributed to this update.