The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Nov. 4, 2026
Audio posted by Nov. 3 by 8 pm Eastern
Written & Produced by:
November 2, 2026 12:31 pmSALEM, OR — About 30% of Americans voted by mail in 2024, and mail-in voting is a proven way to increase citizen participation in elections. States adopting universal mail ballots have seen participation increase from 8% in Colorado to 20% in Oregon. While states made changes to speed up processing, the fact remains that mail-in ballots take extra time to count.
Forty-four states now allow pre-election day actions to help speed up processing, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, including opening the outer envelopes, and verifying the identity of the sender through address, voter ID and/or signature verification. Thirty-three states, including most universal mail-in ballot states, now allow the scanning of mail-in ballots before election day, though none allow the results to be tallied or released. The remaining 17 states may only scan mail ballots on election day.
In places where ranked choice voting is used, like Alaska, the process may take even longer, as the ranked choice system goes through elimination rounds to achieve a majority vote for the winning candidate. And Alaska doesn’t allow ballot processing until the polls close on election day.
So, as much as we want to see immediate results, voters – and politicians – need to be patient, and let our heroic election officials do their jobs.
We’ve linked to more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources
Bipartisan Policy Center – Why We Might Not Know Election Results Right Away
National Conference of State Legislatures – When Absentee/Mail Ballot Processing and Counting Can Begin
PBS/PolitiFact – When will we know 2026 midterm election results? It may take some time, but that’s normal
Daily Bruin – Los Angeles is counting ballots faster than ever – here’s how
MIT Election Science & Data Lab – Voting by mail and absentee voting
Related ADM Reports:
American Democracy Minute – In a Surprising Pro-Voter Decision the U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Mississippi’s Five-Day Mail-In Ballot Grace Period
American Democracy Minute – California Primary Mail-In Ballot Count Methodically Continues Amidst Trumped Up Fraud Accusations and U.S. DOJ Investigations
Groups Taking Action:
National Vote at Home Institute, Common Cause US, AARP
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State
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