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Final election results could take weeks in 'worst-case scenario,' ODU political expert says

With election officials expecting a record-breaking number of people to vote, there is a lot of talk about when Americans will know the final tally.

NORFOLK, Va. — We’re all looking forward to the results of Tuesday's presidential election, but it might be a while.

Old Dominion University Political Science Professor Benjamin Melusky said we’ll only get a result Tuesday night if in-person voting numbers are hugely favorable towards a single candidate. If it’s a tight race, results will take a lot longer.

“Historically we haven’t always known who the president is going to be, right on that night," Melusky explained. “On election night, it could be tricky to call certain states because there’s so much waiting out in the wings.” 

Waiting out in the wings means more than 90 million ballots that voters have already cast.

Melusky says all those mail-in ballots, provisional ballots, and early in-person votes will take time to count.

“It could be days or, worst-case scenario, weeks to actually find out, in some states, what the final number is,” he explained.  

That’s because many states are not allowed to tabulate ballots until Election Day or after polls close; and almost twice as many Americans voted early this year, compared to the 2016 presidential election.

"Then you have COVID protocols on top of this," Melusky said. "The ability of people to work closely with one another, to bring in additional help, so I think there's all these different layers of complexity that will complicate the process.”

But although the process may be complicated, Melusky said Americans can trust it. It’s something we’ve been doing for centuries.  

“Sit back and wait," Melusky advised. "I know that’s a tricky thing to ask but it’s 2020. What we’ve been doing is having to sit back and wait for things to happen.”

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