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When will the Texas election results be available? A timeline.

Maria Mendez
| Texas Tribune

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Shortly after the polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day, election officials will begin releasing early voting totals, which will give Texans their first glimpse of the results. However, it may take much longer to know the actual outcome of the election because election officials follow a long list of procedures to ensure your vote is counted correctly.

Results are expected to be particularly slow in large counties like Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin, where poll workers and officials coordinate the counting of Election Day ballots from hundreds of polling stations. But that's not for lack of effort from poll workers, who often work past midnight to meet the state's 24-hour deadline.

Safely transporting, counting and verifying tens of thousands of ballots just takes time, experts say.

“Because of the checks and balances, because of the chain of custody, because of the record-keeping and accounting, it all takes some time after voters finish casting their ballots,” said Tammy Patrick, an election administration expert and chief program officer at the National Association of Election Officials . “Then the workers have to secure everything. You have to complete all the paperwork and then submit the results to the county clerk.”

In smaller counties, meeting these requirements may be less complicated and quicker. Here's what that process will look like in some of Texas' largest counties.

More: Early voting underway in Texas: How many ballots have been cast so far in El Paso County?

It is 7 p.m. on election day and the polls are closed. What's next?

Voters can expect counties to begin releasing early voting results shortly after 7 p.m. This series of results includes ballots and mail-in ballots received up to this point.

In counties with more than 100,000 residents, election officials are allowed to begin counting mail-in ballots received after polls close on the last day of early voting to get a head start on announcing results. Smaller counties can begin this process the morning of Election Day.

Early voting typically accounts for a large percentage of results because most Texans vote early. In the 2020 presidential election, 88% of votes in Harris County were reported in the first set of results released at 7 p.m., said Rosio Torres-Segura, a spokesman for the Harris County Clerk's office. Torres-Segura said the county expects to reach a similar percentage of votes soon this year.

So what about the results of voting on Election Day?

Polling stations will be open until 7:00 p.m. on election day, although there may be queues at some polling stations even during closing time.

By law, these voters must be given the opportunity to cast their vote. Some voters have had to wait several hours on Election Day to cast their ballots in previous years, such as during the 2020 primary, when lines stretched for hours after stores closed.

This may delay the announcement of election results.

Once all ballots have been cast at a polling place, polling place managers must follow a series of safety measures. Before leaving the polling place, they must fill out paperwork detailing the number of ballots counted by ballot scanning machines and the number of voters who checked in to vote. They also have to package up the ballots and other items and bring them all back to the county's central counting station – the place where ballots are counted on election night, the total number of votes cast is determined and unofficial results are produced.

More: Who is on the ballot? Meet the candidates running in the 2024 general election in El Paso

All of this is an important part of the process. Polling station managers must pay attention to detail and ensure that everything – ballots, paperwork and equipment – ​​is recorded before it is delivered to the central counting station. In Collin County, it can take up to an hour for poll workers to complete this step after they have processed all voters and the polls have closed.

“What you’re talking about here is election integrity. You have to make sure you have a good chain of custody, meaning your documents show every single aspect of what happened at that polling place,” said Bruce Sherbet, Collin County elections director.

In large counties, returning ballots and equipment to the county's central counting station may take time and delay election results. Giant Harris County will have election results from 700 polling locations. One of them, in Baytown, east of Houston, is 40 minutes from the county elections office.

To speed up the process, Harris and other large counties will set up substations throughout the county where poll workers can drop off their materials to begin counting votes.

Tarrant County, which will operate 349 polling places on Election Day, will have seven locations where poll workers can drop off materials, said Clint Ludwig, the county's elections director. Harris County officials said they will have six locations throughout the county.

Once everything is submitted, election administrators review and verify the information from each polling place. Counties must post the comparison between the number of voters and the number of ballots cast on their election websites.

How are votes counted to produce results in statewide races?

After polling station results are received at county central counting stations, election officials transmit them to the state. Poll workers manually enter the totals for each race into the statewide election management system, TEAM. The Secretary of State's office then reviews county reports to ensure the information is accurate before finalizing unofficial election night results.

If there are discrepancies between what is posted on a county's website and the state's system, the secretary of state's office checks as local officials enter the data to ensure that the correct information is included in the state's unofficial reporting of election night results be included.

Under state law, Election Day totals must be sent to the state within 24 hours of polls closing.

Once the counting of votes has begun, it cannot stop until it is completed. In large counties, election workers work in shifts when the counting of cases extends into the early hours of the morning.

Why are election night results “unofficial”?

Election night results are unofficial because counties still must account for late-arriving mail-in ballots, ballots from military or foreign voters and provisional ballots. Deadlines for receiving different types of ballots vary, but all must be verified and counted or rejected by Nov. 18, according to the Election Law calendar.

Once all eligible ballots have been counted, the county commissioner may conduct the local election campaign by reviewing the records and completing the vote count. This must be completed by November 19th.

A statewide survey must be held by December 9th, with the governor certifying the results with the Secretary of State as a witness. At this time, the statewide results will become official and final.

Natalia Contreras handles election administration and voting access for Votebeat in collaboration with the Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia at [email protected]

Maria Méndez is a service and engagement reporter for The Texas Tribune. Contact María at [email protected].

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