Michigan’s top election official anticipates next-day results in presidential election 

Michiganders might be stuck waiting until Wednesday to get a peek at the state’s unofficial election results. Here’s why:

MICHIGAN—Polls close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, but Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson expects voters may not see the early results of the state’s presidential election until the following day.

Ahead of the Election Day, Benson has been urging voters to remain patient while election officials work to tally up votes on Election Night—and has warned that it could be until Wednesday before a full set of unofficial election results for all 83 counties has been compiled.

Benson reportedly made the comment during an appearance on the CBS program “Face the Nation” last week, when she answered questions about election certification and vote counts.

“We do have more options to process ballots sooner than Election Day” since the 2020 election, Benson told reporters earlier this month. “I’m optimistic we could see results even sooner.”

She echoed the Wednesday estimate to reporters again this week, noting she was optimistic that unofficial results would become available “sooner than the end of the day” on Wednesday.

When will we know more?

The Secretary of State’s office is set to hold a press conference after the polls close on Tuesday, where Benson may be able to provide more details on when early results will arrive.

What’s up with the delays?

As of this week, almost 2 million Michiganders had already cast their ballot in this year’s General Election—which represents nearly 25% of the state’s active registered voters. 

More than 1.6 million of those voters have voted by mail or returned their ballots to a ballot drop box. And each of those ballots takes time for election officials to retrieve, open, verify against signatures, and then scan through a tabulator before they can all be compiled into official, preliminary election results.

While a recent change in state law enables election officials in larger cities and townships to speed up the process by beginning to process mail ballots eight days prior to Election Day, it’s not a system that has been adopted in every jurisdiction in Michigan—so some areas will be slower than others to report out results that include a full tally of their absentee ballots.

Benson has credited the change in state law for helping speed up the turnaround on early election results in this year’s primary election and she expects it will help expedite the process again. But it may still take up to 24 hours for election officials to count up ballots, Benson said.

What else could delay the results?

Polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time — or 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in a small section of the Upper Peninsula that’s in Central Standard Time.

Anyone who is in line when polls close is still entitled to cast their ballot—so it may take some time for everyone to finish voting in Michigan’s busier precincts.

Afterward, election workers must also follow strict operating procedures to ensure all ballots and election tabulator equipment is processed in a safe and secure fashion—and that can also take a bit of time, particularly if poll workers are new on the job or facing any attempted interference.

Important Note: Some of the nation’s largest cities have taken precautionary measures to protect workers—including hiring security and installing shatterproof glass on the windows. New state laws are also in effect for this year’s election, which created new penalties for those who are convicted of intimidating or obstructing election workers from performing their duties.

When will we get the official results?

Whatever preliminary election results are released after the election are just that—preliminary.

The State Board of Canvassers won’t meet to review and finalize Michigan’s official election results until later in November. Under state law, that must happen within 20 days of the election. 

Important Note: Some news outlets don’t wait for unofficial state results to arrive before they project winners in key races. The Associated Press, which Courier Newsroom relies on to report race results, does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it has determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. 

READ MORE: Flip it over! Michigan Supreme Court race may be hiding on your ballot

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Follow Political Correspondent Kyle Kaminski here.