• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

STATE WIRE: HERE’S WHAT EXPERTS SAY WE CAN EXPECT AFTER ELECTION DAY

Written by LAURA ROSBROW-TELEM Posted October 15, 2020 Filed Under: News, News to Us, NEWS+OPINIONS

Election Night results Massachusetts

WESTON, Mass. – Election experts, including a secretary of state, recently spoke with Massachusetts-based Voter Protection Corps about how election night can go smoothly.

During a Zoom panel, they said most people should have an easy experience voting, whether in person or by mail. But Election Night is likely to be more like election week – at least.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson explained her state can’t open ballots, including absentee, until the morning of Election Day. Benson said it’ll be impossible to have Election Night results from Michigan.

“Basic math is estimating that it’s gonna take 80 hours to count and tabulate 3.2 million ballots based on the number of machines and people we’ve got,” said Benson.

The vote-counting policies vary widely by state. In Massachusetts, election officials can pre-process mail and absentee ballots as soon as they arrive.

Benson cautioned the media to wait until the grand majority of votes are counted before calling races.

Loyola University constitutional law scholar and Professor Justin Levitt said he thinks most election results will be clear within a week after November 3. Levitt warned that many people will file lawsuits on Election Night, and afterwards.

“A lawsuit without a provable set of facts showing a violation of statute or constitutional law is a tweet with a filing fee,” said Levitt. “And we should be paying exactly as much attention to those lawsuits as we do to Twitter.”

Levitt – a former deputy assistant attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division – added that individual mistakes are expected with mail-in ballots, as there are every year. But he said there is no reason to think there will be wide-scale misconduct with vote-by-mail or the elections.

Early voting in Massachusetts starts on Saturday. If you still need to register to vote, the deadline is October 24.


Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Author profile
LAURA ROSBROW-TELEM

Laura is a national producer for Public News Service. Before that, she was the news director at WRFI in Ithaca, NY, and prior to that worked as a print journalist in Israel. She has covered basically everything: technology, local government, health, social issues, peace and justice, cultural topics, etc. Her pieces have been published in the Atlantic, Business Insider, NPR News, NPR member station WSKG, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Next Web, the Jerusalem Post, Mic (formerly known as PolicyMic), the Times of Israel, Geektime, AlterNet, the Oakland Tribune, Walla! News, and the Jewish Exponent.

Related posts
  • LAURA ROSBROW-TELEM
    https://digboston.com/author/laura-rosbrow-telem/
    STATE WIRE: MASS COMPANY ANALYZES WASTEWATER FOR EARLY COVID DETECTION
  • LAURA ROSBROW-TELEM
    https://digboston.com/author/laura-rosbrow-telem/
    STATE WIRE: ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS SAY, 'PUT THE RAKES AWAY'
  • LAURA ROSBROW-TELEM
    https://digboston.com/author/laura-rosbrow-telem/
    STATE WIRE: MASS VOTERS CAN REQUEST MAIL-IN BALLOTS ONLINE
  • LAURA ROSBROW-TELEM
    https://digboston.com/author/laura-rosbrow-telem/
    STATE WIRE: COALITION TO SAFELY REOPEN MA SCHOOLS VOICES VENTILATION CONCERNS

Filed Under: News, News to Us, NEWS+OPINIONS Tagged With: Elections, news, news to us, Politics

WHAT’S NEW

Boston University. Photographed by Janice Checchio for Boston University Photography. Used with permission.

BU Vows to Protect Reproductive Healthcare

State Wire: Last Decade Has Seen Too Many Methane Gas Leaks

State Wire: Last Decade Has Seen Too Many Methane Gas Leaks

Abortion rights protestors in Copley Square, Boston, the evening of the SCOTUS decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. Photo by Charlotte Howard. Photo by Charlotte Howard

Protestors Gather in Copley Square to Fight for Abortion Rights

Why This Pit Kid Is Not Going to ‘Pit-A-Palooza’

Why This Pit Kid Is Not Going to ‘Pit-A-Palooza’

Reader Responses: "Unruly, Argumentative Governor's Council ..."

Reader Responses: “Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council …”

Inbox: Legislation To Protect Vote for Eligible Incarcerated Voters on Baker’s Desk

Inbox: Legislation To Protect Vote for Eligible Incarcerated Voters on Baker’s Desk

Primary Sidebar

Advertisement

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • Dig This: The Return Of the Boston Seafood Festival
  • No Smoking, No Thank You. Advocates Decry Cannabis Social Consumption Rules in Mass
  • Meet the Phantom Behind Greater Boston’s Awesome Food Feed Everybody Gotta Eat
  • Dig This: The Hot Dog Safari Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival
  • Why This Pit Kid Is Not Going to ‘Pit-A-Palooza’

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]