In three battleground states, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, there have been efforts to begin counting absentee ballots before the end of Election Day. Almost all states do not start counting absentee ballots until the polls close in their states. But with the expected increase of mail-in ballots, the odds of counting all of them in a single night are close to zero.
There have been efforts to speed up the process by allowing officials to begin counting before Election Day. In Michigan, the Republican legislature decided to give election officials a 10-hour head start. Most observers say that still isn’t nearly enough time.
In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, similar efforts were met with no success. Election officials are facing the daunting task of having to open absentee ballot envelopes, verify the signatures (a process that will be challenged in court), and verify the bar codes. In many states, there is another safeguard for the ballot: a secrecy envelope that must be opened before the ballot can officially be counted.
This is going to happen one to two million times in some states starting on Election Day.
How many people are opening the ballots? How many are verifying the information? How many people are actually tabulating the ballots? And is it crazy to be concerned about fraud?
Republicans have seen this nightmare coming. That, along with depending on the USPS to deliver the ballots on time, have been the biggest concerns. But at this point, it appears nothing can be done.
In the past, states could afford to hand-count absentee ballots because there just weren’t that many of them. But with Democrats frightening millions of people into voting by mail, and lawyers lining up to challenge every rejected ballot, we may not get a decision in the presidential election before the December 6 legal deadline to resolve all election disputes.
This gets even scarier, as the House can determine who wins the Presidency, should no one come out a clear winner in time… That means Crazy Nancy will decide…