Policy Backgrounders

Impact of Delayed Vote Counts on Election Day

October 24, 2024

While voting by mail allows voters more options and greater access to the polls, the security measures involved make the counting process time consuming, as mail ballots are subject to various degrees of processing even before votes are actually counted. Pennsylvania, the state that many experts believe will decide the Presidential election, is one of only seven states, along with Washington DC, that do not permit election officials to begin processing mail and other absentee ballots before Election Day. This delay in the delivery of election results allows time for the spread of false narratives, threatening public trust in the elections process as well as the ultimate outcome itself.

• According to a July 2024 survey by Pew, 61% of Americans are very or somewhat confident that the 2024 presidential election will be conducted fairly and accurately. Democrats are 30 percentage points more likely than Republicans to express confidence. This is a lower figure of confidence compared to 2022, but higher than 2020.
• In the 2022 midterm elections, the number of voters using mail voting remained significantly higher than prepandemic levels at 31.9%, compared to 25.6% in 2018.
• Nearly one-fifth of registered voters in North Carolina – one of seven battleground states – live in areas of the state impacted by Hurricane Helene. When polls opened for early voting on October 17, all but four of the 80 sites previously anticipated for the 25 counties most severely impacted by Helene were in operation.