Do not open until Election Day: State laws will delay counting mail-in votes in Trump-Biden race – By Pete Williams (NBC News) / Aug 31 2020
In 14 states — including some battlegrounds — officials can’t even start authenticating early mail-in ballots until Election Day, much less begin tabulating them.
WASHINGTON — The nation’s election officials have been warning for months that the sheer volume of ballots sent by mail will delay this year’s general election vote count.
But there’s another reason results are likely to be later than usual this year: Some states lag in how they handle mailed ballots before the tabulating ever starts.
A mail-in ballot cannot be counted until election officials verify that it was returned by a registered voter. The ballot is in an unmarked envelope, which is mailed inside a larger outer envelope with a place for the voter’s name and signature. The name and often the signature must be checked against a voter registration database to verify the ballot’s authenticity.
If the ballot isn’t signed or the signature doesn’t match what’s on file, the voter can be contacted to resolve the discrepancy. All of that takes time. Once verified, the ballot itself, inside the unmarked envelope, is set aside until the counting begins.
Continue to article: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/do-not-open-until-election-day-state-laws-will-delay-n1238806
