# Will all the absentee ballots be counted, nationwide? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756 "2016-11-13T02:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/1 "2016-11-13T02:28:40Z")
I’m referring, of course, to recent U.S. presidential election. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/2 "2016-11-13T02:40:16Z")
Yes. They are being counted as we speak. In some states, they had to be received by the time the polls closed. In other states, North Carolina for example, they merely have to be postmarked by the day of the election, and received by a later date (Nov. 14, I believe, in the case of North Carolina; Nov. 17 for overseas ballots from members of the armed forces). In Washington state, ballot counting continues pretty much for a week or so; recall that they don’t have just the day of plus limited mail-in voting; they take ballots all sorts of ways. Makes counting them interesting. I believe that a large amount of the ongoing increase in the lead Hillary Clinton has in the popular vote has to do with Washington updating its unofficial tallies. I do not believe that Wisconsin or Pennsylvania have enough outstanding ballots to switch their results. Michigan isn’t being called by CNN precisely because there are sufficient outstanding ballots to overcome the Trump lead there; I’ve been watching those totals and as they update, it seems the lead remains about 13,000 votes. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/3 "2016-11-13T03:14:39Z")
In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=810429), **drewder** made the following claims: > [@Electoral College revolt?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-revolt/771529/65): > > Don’t forget that she only won the popular vote until we stopped counting. The absentee ballots only get counted if the election is close enough and absentee voters tend to favor republicans, military, overseas business folk, old people. Historically they break down 2/3 in favor of republicans. In fact when gore won by 500,000 votes there were 2 million absentee ballots in California alone. I assume that all the votes will eventually be added to the popular vote tally, but googling brought up conflicting information. > [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I do not believe that Wisconsin or Pennsylvania have enough outstanding ballots to switch their results. Michigan isn’t being called by CNN precisely because there are sufficient outstanding ballots to overcome the Trump lead there; I’ve been watching those totals and as they update, it seems the lead remains about 13,000 votes. But you know for sure that all the outstanding ballots in WI and PA will be added to the final count? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/4 "2016-11-13T04:33:22Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=810429), **drewder** made the following claims: That’s incorrect on both fronts. They are all counted. And the outstanding votes are expected to be about 2 to 1 Clinton because the majority of the approximately 7 million are from California, New York and Washington. It won’t sway the outcome of the election but she is expected to increase her lead in the popular vote by up to several million votes by the time they are all counted. From [http://help.vote.org/article/8-are-absentee-ballots-counted](http://help.vote.org/article/8-are-absentee-ballots-counted) > [@](#): > > Yes, all votes are counted, whether they’re cast in-person or by absentee ballot. > > It is a common misconception that absentee ballots are only counted during very tight races. This misconception stems from two things: one, absentee ballots are often counted for days after the election since many are coming from abroad; two, absentee ballots are often a small percentage of all voted ballots. Many elections have a clear winner, so the absentee ballots that are still being counted after election night don’t affect the results as predicted right after the polls close. As absentee voting becomes more popular, however, an increasing number of elections are decided by absentee ballots. From [Clinton's Popular-Vote Lead Now Exceeds 1.5 Million—and It's Growing - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/clintons-popular-vote-lead-will-grow-and-grow/507455/) > [@](#): > > "We probably have about 7 million votes left to count,” said David Wasserman, an editor at Cook Political Report who is tracking turnout. “A majority of them are on the coasts, in New York, California, and Washington. She should be able to win those votes, probably 2-1.” By mid-December, when the Electoral College officially casts its ballots, Wasserman estimates that Clinton could be ahead by 2 percentage points in the popular vote. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/5 "2016-11-13T05:03:13Z")
Thank you, **Crazyhorse.** ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/6 "2016-11-13T13:25:07Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > But you know for sure that all the outstanding ballots in WI and PA will be added to the final count? Yes, I do know for certain they will be. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/7 "2016-11-13T14:48:57Z")
Absentee ballot counting is highly suspect. . There are rules and regulations concerning the validity of an absentee ballot. In Florida, in 2000, absentee ballots from US forces overseas were given a pass, and not required to meet the standards, but civilians were subjected to discriminatory scrutiny. Guess which group is more likely to be conservative or liberal? Technically, a mailed in absentee ballot most bear a postmark showing a date prior to some deadline date. When was the last time you got a piece of mail from anyone, anywhere, that had a legibly dated postmark on it? What are the chances if it comes from Nepal or Nigeria? Nowadays, this anachronistic law is virtually impossible to comply with. So people counting absentee ballots can pretty well accept or reject any ballot they wish. If the candidate of choice is already in the lead, poll workers can disqualify every absentee ballot on some grounds or other. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/8 "2016-11-13T15:48:36Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Technically, a mailed in absentee ballot most bear a postmark showing a date prior to some deadline date. When was the last time you got a piece of mail from anyone, anywhere, that had a legibly dated postmark on it? What are the chances if it comes from Nepal or Nigeria? Nowadays, this anachronistic law is virtually impossible to comply with. Yesterday. Every piece of mail I get has a legibly dated postmark. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/9 "2016-11-13T16:06:01Z")
Oregon requires all ballots to be IN the county election office by 8pm on Election Day … generally on the Thursday or Friday before, we get the warnings through the various media outlets to use the drop-boxes scattered around the county … because all the ballots that come by mail on Wednesday or after are not counted … This makes things easier on the staff at the election office … in Oregon, _all_ ballots come in this way … so we just have to have this final cut-off time or we’d be counting ballots until February … ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/10 "2016-11-13T16:13:24Z")
Looking at my own mail, out of the last ten items I received, three of them had postmarks with legible dates. But the other seven were business mail “presorted” so that might explain the lack of postmarks. Absentee ballots shouldn’t fall into that category. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/11 "2016-11-13T16:48:21Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Yesterday. Every piece of mail I get has a legibly dated postmark. Anything with multiple stamps on it (as a ballot would likely be) will go through the cancelling machine with the date stamp obscured by the postage stamp, and likely not readable. Most foreign countries still hand cancel individual mailings, and use the date stamp to cancel the stamp, making it unreadable. A post office that meters mail presented at the counter may or may not bother to update the date, or even leave the date blank. Third world countries are not overly diligent bout keeping their stamp pads fresh, and even in my passport, about half thea entry stamps are too faint to read. If your absentee ballot falls into any of those categories, it CAN be judged invalid. When mailing an absentee ballot, you would literally have to tell the postal clerk to hand stamp a date stamp on it and stand there and watch them do it, otherwise you’re at their mercy and have no control over how it is processed. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/12 "2016-11-13T17:13:17Z")
Remember, there’s more than one race. Just because the lead in the Presidential race looks solid doesn’t mean that there aren’t several other races that might be affected. It looks good the the masses that such ballots are counted. Keeps up the democracy image thing. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-all-the-absentee-ballots-be-counted-nationwide/771756/13 "2016-11-13T17:28:25Z")
Even in Florida, absentee ballots sent from within the U.S. must be _received_ (not postmarked, but received) in the election office by election day; ballots sent from overseas must be postmarked by election day and received within ten days thereafter. (And contrary to **jtur** ’s opinion, it is usually possible to read a date stamp on top of a postage stamp, and hand stamps are more likely to be legible than machine cancels.) [State-by-state guidelines](https://www.fvap.gov/vao/vag/chapter2).