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Shortly after polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day, election officials begin releasing early voting totals, which will give Texans their first glimpse of the results. But it can take much longer to know the true outcome of the election, as election officials follow a long list of procedures to ensure your vote is accurately counted.

Results are likely to be especially slow in large counties like Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin, where election workers and officials will coordinate the counting of Election Day votes from hundreds of polling locations. But that’s not for lack of effort by the state’s election officials, who often work past midnight to meet the 24-hour deadline.

Experts said it takes time to securely transport, count and verify tens of thousands of ballots.

“Because of the checks and balances, because of chain of custody, because of record keeping and bookkeeping, after voters are done voting, all of that takes time,” said Tammy Patrick, election management expert and chief program officer for the National Association. Election Officials. “Then workers need to secure everything. “They have to finish all the paperwork and then submit those results to the county official.”

In smaller counties, meeting these requirements may be less complicated and faster. Here’s what that process will look like in some of Texas’ largest counties.

Voters can expect counties to begin reporting early voting results shortly after 7 p.m. This set of results includes early voting votes and mail-in ballots received so far.

Counties with a population of more than 100,000 are allowing election officials to begin counting mail-in ballots after polls close on the last day of early voting to get a head start on reporting results. Smaller counties can begin this process the morning of Election Day.

Because most Texans vote early, early voting often accounts for a large percentage of the results. Rosio Torres-Segura, a spokesman for the Harris County Clerk’s office, said 88% of the votes in Harris County in the 2020 presidential election were reported in initial results released at 7 p.m. This year, the county expects to see a similar rate of votes early, Torres-Segura said.

On Election Day, polling places are open until 19:00, but some polling places may still have people waiting in line at closing time.

By law, these voters must have the opportunity to vote. In previous years, some voters had to wait several hours to cast their ballots on Election Day. 2020 primariesLines stretched for hours after closing time.

This may delay the reporting of election results.

Once all votes have been cast at a polling place, there are a number of security measures that polling place supervisors must follow. Before leaving the polling place, they must fill out paperwork that includes details about the number of votes counted by ballot scanning machines and the number of voters registered to vote. They also must collect ballots and other items and carry them back to the county’s central counting station (where ballots are counted, vote totals are determined, and unofficial results are generated on election night).

This is all an important part of the process. Polling place supervisors must pay close attention to detail and ensure that everything (ballots, paperwork, and equipment) is accounted for before being delivered to the central counting station. In Collin County, this step can take up to an hour for poll workers to process all voters and after the polls close.

“You are talking about election integrity here. “You have to make sure you have good chain of custody, which means your documents show every aspect of what happened at that ballot box,” said Bruce Sherbet, Collin County elections administrator.

In large counties, returning ballots and equipment to the county’s central counting station can take time and delay election results. In Giant Harris County, election results will come from 700 ballot boxes. One of them is in Baytown, east of Houston, 40 minutes from the county election center.

To speed up the process, Harris and other large counties will designate substations around the county where election workers can drop off supplies to begin counting votes.

Tarrant County, which will operate 349 polling places on Election Day, will have seven centers where election workers can distribute supplies, said Clint Ludwig, the county’s elections administrator. Harris County officials said they will have six facilities throughout the county.

Once everything is submitted, election administrators review and verify the information on each voting site. Counties must post on election websites a comparison of the number of voters and the number of ballots cast.

After the results from the polling places reach the central counting stations of the districts, election officials present them to the state. Election workers manually enter totals for each race into the statewide election management system known as TEAM. The Secretary of State’s office then reviews county reports to make sure the information is accurate before unofficial election night results are finalized.

If there are any discrepancies between what is posted on a county’s website and the state’s system, the Secretary of State’s office checks with local officials who enter the data to ensure the correct information is included in the county’s system. Unofficial reporting of election night results.

Under state law, Election Day totals must be submitted to the state within 24 hours of polls closing.

Once the vote counting begins, it cannot be stopped until it is finished. If counting continues until the early hours of the morning in large districts, election officials will work in shifts.

Election night results are unofficial because counties still have to account for late-arriving mail ballots, votes from military or overseas voters and provisional ballots. Deadlines for receiving different types of ballots varybut all of these must be reviewed and counted or rejected by November 18. election law calendar.

Once all eligible ballots have been counted, the county commissioners court may conduct the local canvass by examining the records and finalizing the tally of votes. This process must be completed by November 19.

A statewide survey is required by Dec. 9, with the governor to certify the results to the secretary of state. At this point, statewide results will become official and final.

Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia at [email protected]

Maria Méndez is the service and engagement reporter for The Texas Tribune. Contact María at [email protected].