JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mail-in ballots are already starting to be returned to election offices across the state.
But we won’t know results for weeks – and possibly after Election Day. Even then you might notice those counts are “unofficial” when first reported.
November 3 is Election Day, but really that’s a deadline — the last day to get your vote in. There's early and mail-in options arriving before that deadline, the day-of option, and then there are mail-in votes from servicemembers overseas that are counted up to 10 days later.
Unofficial does not mean the early results are wrong or a guess. It means all votes have not been certified by the Supervisor of Elections. That's a process that can take some time.
First all ballots need to come-in. Election officials need to review provisional ballots and canvassing boards must check for under or over-voted ballots with marks.
Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan explains it starts at polling places with precinct managers checking equipment is accurately counting ballots.
“The first thing [the manager] has to do is run a zero report what is your count, if it’s zero she can use that machine for the day," Hogan said, "Then fast forward to Election Day and after we’ve counted all ballots and given notification to the public what the count was what the results were we still have to do an audit."
Elections are not official until all the steps are followed and results are signed-off, which typically happens in December.