VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Certified election results for races across the country haven't been released, and local election staffers are reminding voters to be patient.
The City of Virginia Beach is reassuring residents it's working hard to get the job done, but added the process is one that takes time.
Virginia Beach Electoral Board Chairman Jeffrey Marks provided an update at the city's canvass Thursday.
"I don’t even know who’s winning or leading any of the elections as it pertains to Virginia Beach because to me there’s still a lot of votes that need to be processed," he said.
Some of those include mail-in ballots postmarked before Election Day. The deadline for those to arrive at local election headquarters is noon this Friday. Marks said in Virginia Beach, 500 such ballots arrived Wednesday alone, explaining, "Those go into [their] own little bucket. Just like we do with all the other ballots, we’ll go through the process of reviewing and processing them."
Even though the timeline may seem slow to some, Marks reassures people that election staffers are working hard.
"You really have to be on your game," he said. "You have to think because you’re going through numbers, and sometimes your mind will stray a bit and you can’t do that. You really have to focus, so there’s no down time."
In addition to the 500 mail-in ballots that have arrived post-Election Day so far, the city is working through 5,000 provisional ballots, too. 100,000 people voted early in Virginia Beach.
Marks said, in order to avoid unnecessary delays in the future, register to vote before Election Day. "You can understand when we get frustrated about the number of provisional ballots because it’s an incredible amount of work," he said. "If you want to have the comfort level of knowing your vote is cast properly and counted, register well before the election and bring your ID."
The city forecasts certified election results will be released next Wednesday or Thursday.