President Trump’s hostility toward mail-in voting in the midst of a global pandemic and a new U.S…

President TrumpDonald John TrumpHillary Clinton responds to Chrissy Teigen tweet: ‘I love you back’Police called after Florida moms refuse to wear face masks at school board meeting about mask policySupreme Court rejects Trump effort to shorten North Carolina mail-ballot deadlineMOREs hostility toward mail-in voting in the midst of a global pandemic and a new U.S. Supreme Court decision blocking extended ballot deadlines in a battleground state have election officials worried that two branches of government are undermining confidence in an election Trump is poised to lose.
Trump has increasingly demanded on Twitter that results be known on Election Night, a ploy apparently designed to exclude millions of people who vote by mail and whose ballots may not be counted immediately even if they arrive long before the polls close.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Wisconsin could only count absentee ballots that arrive by Election Day, spurning a Democratic request to extend the deadline.
Elections experts caution that counting millions of ballots, especially in a year in which turnout is projected to set a modern record, takes time. Established rules are in place to ensure a count that favors accuracy over speed, and recent history shows those rules take time.
Wed rather get it right than fast, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) told The Hill in an interview Tuesday. We shouldnt confuse Election Night with results night.
Whats more, some polling places are likely to remain open even after midnight, especially in underserved and minority communities where reducing the number of vote centers a favored trick of those who hope to disenfranchise voters has led to longer lines. Every state allows polling places to stay open to accommodate anyone who has joined the line by the posted poll closing time.
Mail ballots are being blamed for some sort of delay, but what people are completely forgetting is that polling place results cannot come in until polling places are closed, said Amber McReynolds, chief executive of the National Vote At Home Institute.
The concept of a conclusive result emerging on Election Night itself is an entirely modern construct, one that has occurred only a few times in recent years.
Trumps own victory four years ago wasnt assured until two and a half hours after midnight, when the Associated Press concluded he would become the nations 45th president. Sen. John KerryJohn Forbes KerryMcCarthy urges networks not to call presidential race until ‘every polling center has closed’Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander compares Trump dance video to iconic Elaine danceThis time, for Democrats, Catholics matterMORE (D-Mass.) waited until the morning after Election Day to concede to President George W. Bush in 2004.
Bush had to wait even longer in 2000. He only knew he would be president on December 12, 36 days after Election Day, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a recount in Florida should not continue.
Only in blowout elections have media outlets like the Associated Press been able to call races over on Election Night itself.
Ronald Reagan knew he would be president, and then that he would win reelection, before 9 p.m. in both 1980 and 1984, two contests in which he routed his Democratic opponents. Media outlets later agreed to wait to call races until polls closed in West Coast states, which meant Barack ObamaBarack Hussein ObamaWall Street backed Biden campaign with million in 2020 cycle: reportObama, Biden to campaign together in MichiganThe Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented by Facebook – Tech execs testify on platforms’ liabilityMORE had to wait until the 11 p.m. hour to know he had won both his races.
Whats more, even when the outcome is certain, no election becomes final until state elections officials not the media companies with which President Trump has so often feuded certify results. No elected official takes office, no elector casts their ballot for president, because the Associated Press gives them permission.
The simple fact that NBC calls it doesnt mean the ballots are all counted, said Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justices Democracy Program. The counting is never done on election night. There are always provisional ballots, there are always military and overseas ballots.
In a state like California, the formal certification process can take a month. Counties have 30 days to finish processing ballots, and Padillas office conducts a post-count audit.
And California has a reputation for well-run elections. New York this summer took more than a month to certify primary election results that showed Rep. Eliot EngelEliot Lance EngelTrump appointee sparks bipartisan furor for politicizing media agencyOffice of Special Counsel widens Pompeo probe into Hatch Act violations Overnight Defense: Trump, Biden set to meet in final debate | Explicit Fort Bragg tweets were sent by account administrator | China threatens retaliation over Taiwan arms saleMORE (D) losing to a progressive challenger, a race that only drew about 90,000 votes.
This year, states are dealing with a deluge of early and absentee votes, driven by the coronavirus pandemic and the record-high enthusiasm among both Democrats and Republicans. All those votes take hours, sometimes days, to count; many states bar election administrators from even beginning to count mail-in ballots until the polls have closed, even if those ballots were received weeks before Election Day.
Elections experts were alarmed, then, when Supreme Court Justice Brett KavanaughBrett Michael KavanaughVermont official asks Kavanaugh to correct claim about state’s voting proceduresSupreme Court won’t fast-track GOP bid to block Pennsylvania mail ballot extensionPence seeks to lift GOP in battle for SenateMORE seemed to dismiss votes that are not immediately counted on Election Night. Writing in concurrence with the conservative majoritys decision to block extra time for Wisconsin ballots, Kavanaugh seemed to conflate early results with final results.
States want to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election, Kavanaugh wrote, even though many states allow ballots postmarked on Election Day to be counted if they arrive after polls have closed.
[T]hose States also want to be able to definitively announce the results of the election on election night, or as soon as possible thereafter, he wrote, even though no state definitively announces results of an election on Election Night.
Kavanaugh is one of three members of the Supreme Court, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and newly minted Associate Justice Amy Coney BarrettAmy Coney BarrettSupreme Court rejects Trump effort to shorten North Carolina mail-ballot deadlineTrump fights for battleground ArizonaSupreme Court won’t fast-track GOP bid to block Pennsylvania mail ballot extensionMORE, who worked on Bushs legal team in Florida during the 2000 recount when they asked courts to accept military ballots that had come in after Election Day.
If we dont have Supreme Court justices who are accurately citing election laws in states, were in for a pretty tough time, McReynolds said.
To elections experts and administrators, the demand for immediate results is a fig leaf covering a deep insecurity about a full and complete count.
Anybody whos demanding final results on Election Night is clearly trying to spin the results, and possibly results that they may not like. Anybody who knows anything about elections knows it takes a little bit of time to get the count right, Padilla said. Those seeking to undermine confidence in our elections, including but not limited to foreign adversaries, would love nothing better than chaos and conspiracy theories on November 3rd and 4th.