English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
Esperanto
French
German
Greek
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
UrduPresident Donald Trump continues to insist on a winner declared on Election Night. On Twitter, he tweeted on Oct. 26, “Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd.” The following day, Trump told reporters, “It would be very, very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on Nov. 3, instead of counting ballots for two weeks, which is totally inappropriate, and I don’t believe that’s by our laws.” President Trump is mistaken. There is no law saying official results must be given on Election Night. Given the current situation under a major pandemic, when many voters are sending in their ballots or voting early in person rather than voting on Election Day, it will take a decisive victory by one candidate or the other to be able to declare a winner on Election Night or early the following morning.
As reported by Louis Jacobson at Politifact…
When the media “calls” a presidential race — which may or may not happen on Election Night — it is because they feel that projections from the current results are strong enough to announce one candidate over the other. It’s not an official result.
“There are no official results on Election Night — there never have been,” said Edward B. Foley, an Ohio State University constitutional law professor who specializes in elections. “Election Night tallies are always just preliminary, pending certification of the canvass of returns under state law, which takes time. Every state has a law on this point.”
Especially in this year’s election, when many voters are sending in their ballots or voting early in person rather than voting on Election Day due to the coronavirus pandemic, experts say it will take a decisive victory by one candidate or the other to be able to declare a winner on Election Night or early the following morning. (Trump’s tweet was later flagged by Twitter as potentially harming the integrity of the election.).
