In the United States, individual political affiliations are deeply rooted in personal identity and can be very stable over time. As such, voters often feel a strong sense of personal stake in election results because the loss of their preferred candidate threatens the status of both their political party and themselves. This is why many individuals feel an intense urge to keep scrolling for election results and become obsessive over polling averages. However, this can make people anxious and lead to unhealthy behaviors like binge eating and sleep deprivation.
In order to help reduce the anxiety and confusion surrounding the vote counting process, it’s important for voters to understand how election results are reported. Unlike the official, certified results that are published in the days (and sometimes weeks) following Election Day, unofficial, preliminary vote counts from local election officials and state election offices are reported to the public in real time. This information allows news outlets to track the progress of the ballot count and make a prediction about who will win each race. These predictions are called a “call” when the media outlet feels confident that their analysis is accurate.
However, the actual final results are not released until every valid ballot has been included in the count. This step is known as a “canvass” and happens in every county, state, and national election. In addition to verifying and re-tabulating all votes, this process includes counting in-person and absentee ballots as well as the verified provisional ballots that take a longer time to process.