Secretaries of state are warning the finalized election results might not be available until weeks after the election.
Fox News reports that concerns over a lack of volunteers and new challenges surrounding voting during the coronavirus pandemic have election officials worried that accurately counting ballots could take up to several days or even weeks to complete.
(Via Fox News)
"We should be prepared for this to be closer to an Election Week, as opposed to an Election Day," said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
The demographics of poll workers across the country tend to skew toward older Americans, but given the pandemic and the fact that the elderly and people with preexisting conditions are more susceptible to serious illness from COVID-19, many poll workers are pulling out.
Ongoing partisan litigation could dictate dramatic last-minute changes to rules and procedures in several states. Legislatures continue debating laws that could change how votes are processed. ...
At least 170 lawsuits have been filed across the country over voting procedures, many by groups tied to the two major political parties or by the parties themselves. Some still pending this year could have major consequences. ...
Among the most pressing is when election officials can count the vote. In Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states that could determine the presidential race, election laws bar officials from processing mail ballots before Election Day. ...
Because of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, many states are moving to mail-in voting for the November general election. There have been concerns about voter fraud for a multitude of reasons, including ballots being lost in the mail, people filling out ballots for others, and ballot harvesting.
This past week, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Attorney General William Barr took issue with sudden changes proposed by Democrats to the election system, likening the abrupt changes at a time when the country is deeply divided to "playing with fire."
More of the attorney general's statement about vote-by-mail during the interview can be found here.