When Swing States Can Start Counting Millions of Mail-In Ballots

(Bloomberg) -- The unprecedented amount of mail-in voting for the Nov. 3 election in response to the pandemic means some presidential swing states won’t be able to count all of their ballots on election night because of the rules for when they can start processing and tabulating them.

The timing matters because there could be hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count after the election in one or more states where the outcome is necessary to determine whether President Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden gets the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win if the race is close.

There are two steps to tallying mail-in votes. Clerks must first process the ballots -- which typically involves verifying a voter’s identity, opening envelopes, flattening ballots and scanning them -- before votes can be tallied.

Some states can start processing ballots before they’re allowed to count them. But in Pennsylvania -- which has the highest odds of any state of being the tipping point in the election, according to an analysis by the FiveThirtyEight website -- clerks under current law can’t start processing or counting the expected 3 million mail-in ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day, at the same time they’re also running in-person voting.

Here are the rules for when swing states can start processing and counting mail-in and absentee ballots, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures:

Can start counting Oct. 12 or earlier

Florida

Can start counting Oct. 19

Colorado

Can start counting Oct. 20

Arizona, North Carolina

Can start counting Oct. 30

Texas (counties with more than 100,000 people)

Can start some processing on Nov. 2 but not count until Election Day

Michigan

Can do some processing early but not count until Election Day

Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, smaller Texas counties

Can process and scan early but not report until polls close

Ohio

Can’t process or count until Election Day

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

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