Here’s what we will — and won’t — know election night in Georgia midterms.
Today is Election Day for the Georgia midterms and many Georgians are wondering how fast we will have answers on who won.
Here’s how it all works.
What we will know on election night in Georgia
There will be coverage of election results all day, but those will be approximate results. Advanced voting results will be released after the polls close at 7 p.m.
“Instead of having to wait ‘til 7 p.m. on election night for the larger counties, especially, to begin shutting down and printing the advanced voting scanner tapes that take several minutes to print, they can go ahead and do that during the day,” said Georgia elections director Blake Evans. “Which means at 7 p.m., they should have all their advance voting results ready to go and be released by 7:30 or so.”
Typically, larger races will not be “called” on election night, especially in high stakes or close races, similar to the one we are seeing in Georgia right now.
It’s also possible for any race with more than two candidates to go to a runoff. Candidates must receive more than 50% of the vote in order to win. If no candidate receives more than 50%, the top two vote-getters will head to a Dec. 6 runoff election.
What won’t you know?
You won’t know the official results on election night.
According to Georgia Vote411, “Official results are not available on Election Day. Election officials are working around the clock to count an unprecedented number of ballots, and it’s essential that they take the time to make sure every vote is counted.”
What’s the difference between official results and certified results?
All official results will be uploaded to the Secretary of State’s website as they roll in; and as the month goes on, the votes will go through an audit.
After the audit, the Secretary of State will ensure all votes have been counted with utmost accuracy and all votes will be certified. The certified results will be released on Nov. 25.
Today is the last day to vote and voting on Election Day is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Check your polling place on Georgia.gov.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 1:00 AM.
