On Election night, the American public, usually, expects results. That's been the norm. But, it's 2020. The norm is gone. The norm will most likely be gone for this year's election night.
“I think expect to wait, at all levels,” said Jacob Neiheisel, a political science professor at the University at Buffalo.
That sentiment being shared by the Erie County democratic commissioner of the board of elections.
“Candidates are going to have to be very careful about declaring victory Tuesday night,” said Jeremy Zellner.
In New York, early and Election Day votes will be tabulated Tuesday night.
In Erie County, there's already over 150,000 early votes submitted.
What will not be counted on election night, absentee ballots. Normally, there aren't enough to change a result from election night. That may not be the case this year.
In Erie County, 96,000 thousand absentee ballots were distributed.
In New York, to allow time for all of the ballots to travel to the board of elections, absentee ballots are not counted for another 13 days after Election Day.
“We basically have 100,000 people whose voices we're going to make sure is heard, but it's not going to be for a couple of weeks,” added Zellner.
“We might know somethings in some states and we might know somethings in some states that are pivotal. I don't think we're going to know much down ballot for quite some time in New York,” added Neiheisel.
