JACKSONVILLE, Fla — With less than 30 days until Election Day, Michael Binder, a political science professor at the University of North Florida, says don't be surprised if we don't know who will be the next president by the end of Election Night.
“We very well may know by 11:30 p.m. or 12 that night who won. That's entirely possible, but if they don't it's because of the influx of mail ballots,” Binder said. “Florida actually does their mail ballots right. Florida counts their mail ballots as they come in.”
Clay County Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless said while they can’t release the results until after polls close on Nov. 3, they can begin processing ballots this month.
“So our office and offices across the state of Florida will begin much earlier than we did in 2000 processing those vote-by-mail ballots, so I do think that it's going to be a much quicker process than some might predict,” Clay County Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless said.
Vote-by-mail results will begin to be released in Florida shortly after polls close at 7 p.m.
“Florida's results will be known relatively quickly. Other states throughout the country don't do that,” Binder said.
Some states like Wisconsin don’t start counting ballots until Election Day.
“Those states will have ballots coming in and they'll be in, but you have to sift through potentially millions of ballots and it's going to take some time and that's OK," he said. "If we don't know right away because ballots haven't been counted that's fine.”
In Florida, you can track your vote-by-mail ballot online to make sure it's counted. If you forget to sign the return envelope or your signature doesn't match the one on file, you have until 5 p.m. two days after the election to fill out and return what’s called a cure affidavit to correct any errors.
Even if election night turns into election week Binder says that’s just part of the process.
“Listen, it's fine if it takes a couple of days,” Binder said. “The new president isn’t getting sworn in until the end of January. We have time. It’s OK. Relax.”