Why Arizona and Nevada election counts are taking so long

The election was Tuesday, but now days later, Americans are without results in key races including the Senate and governors contests in Nevada and Arizona. So what’s taking so long?

Nevada: 

In Nevada, mail-in ballots can be received as late as 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, as long as they were postmarked on or before election day. Election officials then have to check the signature on each one, and if it doesn’t match their records, the voter has until 5pm Monday, Nov. 14 to fix it.

On top of that, election officials have to check all provisional ballots to make sure no one voted twice. They can’t complete that task until they receive a report from the Secretary of State’s office on Wednesday, Nov. 16. 

Arizona: 

In the Grand Canyon State, it’s all about Maricopa County where 60% of the voters live. In fact the county’s board of supervisors chairman says the lion’s share of the remaining votes won’t be counted until early next week. A record 290,000 early ballots were dropped off in Maricopa County on election day. But election workers can’t just run those through a machine and count them. The signatures have to be verified, the ballots must be scanned and finally they are processed by a bipartisan board.

Republican candidate for governor, Kari Lake, expressed “100% confidence” that once those ballots are counted she will be victorious.

“They’re slow-rolling the results and they’re trying to delay the inevitable,” Lake said on NewsMax.

The Democratic candidate, Sec. of State Katie Hobbs, criticized Lake for questioning why it’s taking so long.

“Despite what my election-denying opponent is trying to spin, the pattern and cadence of incoming votes are exactly what we expected,” Hobbs tweeted. “We must remain patient and let our election officials do their jobs.”

The House majority: 

The delays in Nevada and Arizona, in addition to races in other states that are separated by just a couple thousand votes, are also keeping the House majority from being determined. Republicans are leading overall, but they still don’t have enough seats to make it official.

As of Friday afternoon, incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was leading her race by just over 1,100 votes, or less than a half a percent. In New York’s 22nd Congressional District, Republican Brandon Williams is leading Democrat Francis Conole by just under 4,00 votes, or 1.5%. Razor thin races like these will decide who controls the chamber.