By Kristine Christlieb, Senior Correspondent, Michigan Fair Elections | November 5, 2024
“Mama said, You can’t hurry results. No, you’ll just have to wait. You gotta trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes”
For weeks, mainstream media outlets have been disciplined in their messaging: Do not expect to know on election night who will be the next President.
Monday’s headline from The Hill is typical: “Why we probably won’t know who the next president is on election night.”
Later on Monday, the BBC was promoting a similar message, telling its audience, “US election results have sometimes been declared within hours of the polls closing, but this year’s close contest could mean a longer wait.”
Let’s review how long it took for a presidential winner to be declared in elections for the past 70+ years. Here is a table showing ChatGPT results. Keep in mind, when the results were declared the next day, it could mean only a few hours past midnight of election day.
Presidential Election Year | Date Election Called |
1940 - Roosevelt | Same day |
1944 - Roosevelt | Same day |
1948 - Truman | Next day |
1952 - Eisenhower | Same day |
1956 - Eisenhower | Same day |
1960 - Kennedy | Next day |
1964 - Johnson | Same day |
1968 - Nixon | Next day |
1972 - Nixon | Same day |
1976 - Carter | Next day |
1980 - Reagan | Same day |
1984 - Reagan | Same day |
1988 - Bush | Same day |
1992 - Clinton | Same day |
1996 - Clinton | Same day |
2000 - Bush | Weeks later |
2004 - Bush | Next day |
2008 - Obama | Same day |
2012 - Obama | Same day |
2016 - Trump | Same day |
2020 - Biden | Four days later |
In 19 of the past 21 presidential elections (90% of cases), the winner was declared on election day or the following day. The exceptions were 2000 (the controversy in Florida requiring a Supreme Court decision) and 2020. The 2000 race was clearly anomalous, and many would argue, so was 2020.
But not the liberal media. In Axios’ state-by-state recounting of how long it took get results in 2020, they set voters up for delayed results by theorizing, “If 2020 is our guide, it’s likely that the 2024 presidential election won’t be decided on Election Day.”
One must ask: Why should the 2020 election be the standard when nearly all prior presidential elections were decided the same or the following day?
Because, they tell us, the 2024 race is going to be close. And how do they know the race is going to be close? The polls tell them so. The same polls that said Hilary was going to win in 2016 and that predicted a red wave in 2022.
The Washington Post told its readers on Monday, “Election officials in key swing states are urging Americans to be patient as they tally results, a process that varies from state to state because each has different vote-counting laws. Polls show an extremely tight presidential race, and the closer the results are, the longer it will take to know the outcome.
Naturally, it is election officials from swing states are warning about delays. California with a gazillion voters can get their results in on time, the mail-in ballot experts in Oregon can get their mail-in ballots processed in time: but somehow, officials in the swing states say they need more time.
Both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin prohibit officials from opening and counting thousands of absentee ballots, which require more scrutiny, until Election Day when they are also trying to manage in-person voters. It appears these crucial swing states have a procedure that allows them to buy time on Election Day, time that some worry will be used to cheat.
If results could be delivered on Election Day in 1940, why is it that all our voting technology can’t deliver equally fast results. Why are we being asked to tolerate these delays? It is all in service to the almighty mail-in ballot.
This method of voting makes it easier to vote, and that is a good thing; but they also have introduced all kinds of problems, including delays from crucial swing states that believe it is just fine to make the rest of America wait.
Kristine Christlieb serves as senior correspondent on MFE's communications team. She publishes Trust but Verify on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/trustbutverifyreport/p/voter-registration-blitzkrieg?r=2haa2x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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