PBS is reassuring voters "it may take some time" to know the midterm results
Posted by R Murray
“If you go to bed on election night and don’t know who won a midterm congressional race, that’s normal,” PBS is reassuring voters, just days before Americans go to the polls.
“And if you wake up the next morning and find that a candidate who was behind hours earlier has since pulled ahead, that’s normal, too.”
The outlet claims “some politicians and their allies” are likely to use delays in the processing of results to “spread misinformation.”
“In past elections, elected leaders, candidates and social media users have spread falsehoods that ‘late night’ arrivals of ‘ballot dumps’ or ‘suitcases’ of ballots are signs of fraud, or that only Democratic-led cities take days to count votes,” the article continues.
“Some states such as Florida often complete the majority of their unofficial counts in fewer hours or days than elsewhere. But it is not a sign of fraud if other places need more time.”
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The article reminds readers that “No state is required to complete the official count on election night. State laws set deadlines to certify final results, often weeks later.”
It also reminders readers that “Candidates who lead early in the vote count may not ultimately win.”
The article uses the example of President Trump’s commanding lead in Wisconsin in the 2020 election, which was overturned by a “late boost” from Milwaukee.
Michigan is also used as a case study.
“When thousands of voters procrastinate sending in their mail ballots until the last minute, it takes election workers extra time to process and count those ballots. In past elections, some people have spread falsehoods about such ‘delays’ in places like Detroit, pointing to vans with ballots arriving late at night as evidence of foul play.”
The article predicts that Alaska, California and Maine are likely to be among the states that announce their results up to two weeks after polling day.
On social media, the response to the article has been withering.
White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said, “The media is already preparing their justification for potential shenanigans on Election Day.”
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson wrote, “PBS: ‘That’s normal”’ No it isn’t. It’s third world. Plenty of states, like Florida, count their ballots in real time and are done on election night. They want the public to think it’s ‘normal’ to give Democrats every opportunity to cheat. Stop excepting late mail-in ballots and we wouldn’t have this problem, but they’re not trying to solve it, they’re trying to rig the system.”