Election official shares what happens after the polls close on Tuesday

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Election Day is less than a week away, but the election officials work doesn’t end on the 8th. Brazos County Elections Administrator Trudy Hancock joined First News at Four to discuss what happens behind the scenes once the polls close.

On Election Day, voters have the right to cast their vote as long as they’re in line by 7 p.m., which is when the polls officially close. At this point the judges have a lot to do. Hancock says they have quite a bit of paperwork to make sure everything is accounted for. They return the paper ballots and the electronic media to central count, where they’ll tabulate the results. However, these results will be considered unofficial.

“Even though everyone has cast their vote on Election Day, there are still some processes that go on after Election Day,” explained Hancock.

There are mail-in ballots that were sent back to voters, which they have until six days after the election to send back in. Everyone who voted provisionally has to be accounted for. This includes people who had an outstanding mail ballot and didn’t bring it to the polls with them or weren’t registered. Military and oversees voters also have an additional six days for their deadline.

“There’s quite a few deadlines after the Election Day, so that is why everything is considered unofficial until after canvass,” said Hancock.

Canvassing is the process of certifying the election results, and according to Hancock it’s done by the county 10 to 14 days after the election. This means the official election results will be available about two weeks after Election Day.

Early voting ends Friday, Nov. 4 and Election Day is Nov. 8. For additional voting information check out KBTX’s Midterm voting guide.

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