With a historic number of ballots expected in Harris County, voters may be wondering how long it will take to count every vote and when election results will become official.
While some results could come in relatively quickly on election night, the process of counting, canvassing and certifying ballots takes additional time.
2 Helps You spoke with Mike Doyle, a former Harris County Democratic Party chair, about how the county handles the vote-counting process.
Doyle said early voting and mail-in ballots are among the first results voters can expect to see on election night, “They have already started some of the process, but obviously it’s not released. There is no attempt, as a matter of fact, it is illegal to release that data,” Doyle said.
When will Harris County have its election results?
For many voters, one of the biggest questions is how late they may have to wait to get a clearer picture of election results.
Doyle said that, based on previous elections, Harris County typically has a better idea of where things stand by the early morning hours, “Usually what I have seen in past elections, and this is a record-breaking election, so that obviously has an impact, but by 2 or 3 in the morning we’ll know where Harris County sits,” Doyle said.
However, he cautioned that the unprecedented number of ballots could affect that timeline, “given the raw numbers that this could go into Wednesday, the middle of the day,” Doyle said.
It is important to remember that election night results are not the same as final, certified results.
Under the Texas Election Code, races must go through the canvassing and certification process. Harris County, like all counties in Texas, has a November 17th deadline to complete that process for this election, exactly fourteen days.
The additional time allows election officials to account for every eligible ballot, including qualifying mail-in ballots. This includes ballots from local voters as well as Harris County service members serving outside the county, provided the ballots are postmarked by Election Day and meet the applicable legal requirements.
Cameras provide another layer of election transparency
Beyond the counting process, Harris County also has surveillance in place at its voting centers.
Doyle pointing out that virtually every area of the county’s voting center is under surveillance, with the public able to drop in at any moment and recordings maintained.
Live Video Link of Harris County Central Count
The surveillance system provides another level of visibility into the election process and is funded by taxpayers.
Election Day is hours away.
