If you’re obsessively scrolling polling averages, paralyzed by campaign ads about threats to democracy or just worried about Election Day itself, you’re not alone. More than seven in 10 Americans say the future of the country is a major source of stress in their lives. And even if you think the outcome will be close, many people are still worried about whether the electoral process is fair and that the other side is resorting to all kinds of ‘dirty tricks’.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) administers federal campaign finance laws, but does not have jurisdiction over voting and election-related issues such as ballot curing, mail-in and provisional ballots or the Electoral College. Instead, state election offices are responsible for certifying results. Visit our Directory to find contact information for state election offices.
Unofficial Election Night Results
An unofficial tally of the first-choice votes submitted on Election Day and early voting, including ballots mailed in before the deadline. Then, in the days immediately following Election Day, a process called the ‘canvass’ is conducted to make sure every vote has been counted. This includes counting absentee ballots, verifying provisional ballots and examining the results to make sure no clerical errors occurred. Only then will officials ‘certify’ the final results as the official result of the election.
Our research suggests that voters’ satisfaction with the democratic process is strongly influenced by their expectations and perceptions of the integrity of the electoral system. Expectancy-disconfirmation theory tells us that, if we have higher expectations, they are more likely to be disappointed by a disappointing outcome. In addition, we found strong evidence that unexpected winners are more, not less, suspicious about the electoral process than expected losers.