Officials are warning that a dramatic increase in mail-in ballots will result in delays counting votes and are urging people to be patient.
"Absentee ballots or mail-in ballots tend to be more labor intensive because you have to check the signature on the envelope to match it against the voter registration record," said Kim Wyman, Washington's Republican secretary of state. "You need to open the envelopes, separate out the security envelope, then remove the voter's ballot."
"We want accuracy above everything. So it's going to take time," Wyman said.
CBS News noted that Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Hawaii, and Utah already vote almost exclusively by mail. California, New Jersey, Nevada, Montana, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., will automatically send mail-in ballots to all registered voters in the fall as a result of the pandemic.
"It does take a little longer to process mail ballots, and by the way, they're more secure than a lot of other forms of voting," said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat.
And Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said she hopes the state legislature will clear the way for early processing of mail-in ballots in her state.
"If the legislature fails to act, citizens not just in Michigan but around the country need to know exactly why it will take a little bit longer, perhaps even a few days longer, to get the full results out of Michigan," she said.
Asked when voters will learn who won the presidential race, she said, if it's close, it could be mid-to-late November.
President Donald Trump warned on Saturday it could take "months" or even "years" to know the results of the November elections, NBC News reported.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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