What you need to know as states count votes and key races hang in the balance
The key races to determine control of the Senate in Arizona and Nevada remain unresolved as both states compete to count hundreds of thousands of ballots that have yet to be processed.
It could still be hours, if not days, before enough votes are counted in those states to determine who won the Senate. There are also many congressional races in dispute that will determine what the House will look like when the new Congress is seated.
The unofficial results, and the lingering uncertainty over who will control Congress next year, have not prevented Republican apprehension about the election results, where an expected “red” wave never materialized.
Here’s what you should know as the countdown continues:
This is how things are in Arizona and Nevada, and why it takes so long to count the ballots
The main reason for the delay is how each state handles ballots other than those cast at polling places on Election Day, including early voting and mail-in.
In Arizona, for example, some 600,000 ballots remain to be counted. Most of them, about 400,000 ballots, are in Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state that includes Phoenix.
Of those ballots, about 290,000 were delivered to vote centers on Election Day, Bill Gates, chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, told Trends Wide on Thursday. Those ballots must be processed before they can be counted, creating a tabulation backlog.
In addition, the county has about 17,000 ballots that were attempted to be counted on Election Day, but were not read by the tabulator due to a printer error, and those ballots must also be counted.
In Nevada, state law allows you to receive ballots in the mail until Saturday, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. That means counties are still getting ballots to be counted.
Clark County, the largest county in the state that includes Las Vegas, received more than 12,000 postmarked ballots from the Post Office on Wednesday, Clark County Recorder Joe Gloria said.
Additionally, Nevada counties have tens of thousands of mail-in ballots that were deposited on Election Day in drop boxes located at polling places. Clark County said its Election Day mailboxes contained nearly 57,000 mail-in ballots.
Trump vs. DeSantis
The lackluster performance of several candidates backed by former President Donald Trump has cast new doubt on his long-awaited 2024 campaign.
At the same time, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ resounding re-election victory fuels calls for him to seize the moment and challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination.
The Trump-DeSantis matchup has simmered for months, but it could come to light when the primary officially begins.
After the ‘red wave’ subsides, McCarthy faces a tougher road
Republicans are still close to a majority in the House, even after Democrats had a better-than-expected night on Tuesday.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is moving quickly to secure the votes needed to claim the speaker’s gavel in the next Congress. Trends Wide has not yet screened a Republican take on the camera.
But the ultimate size of a Republican majority could determine how difficult it will be for McCarty to become president, as a narrow majority could cause the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus caucus to stand in the way of McCarthy’s leadership ambitions. .
A source familiar with the deliberations of the House Freedom Caucus told Trends Wide Wednesday morning that there are about two dozen current and incoming members willing to vote against McCarthy if he doesn’t offer them concessions.
Trends Wide’s Ellie Kaufmann, Bob Ortega, Gary Tuchman, Paul Vercammen, Kristen Holmes, Gabby Orr, Manu Raju and Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.
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What you need to know as states count votes and key races hang in the balance
The key races to determine control of the Senate in Arizona and Nevada remain unresolved as both states compete to count hundreds of thousands of ballots that have yet to be processed.
It could still be hours, if not days, before enough votes are counted in those states to determine who won the Senate. There are also many congressional races in dispute that will determine what the House will look like when the new Congress is seated.
The unofficial results, and the lingering uncertainty over who will control Congress next year, have not prevented Republican apprehension about the election results, where an expected “red” wave never materialized.
Here’s what you should know as the countdown continues:
This is how things are in Arizona and Nevada, and why it takes so long to count the ballots
The main reason for the delay is how each state handles ballots other than those cast at polling places on Election Day, including early voting and mail-in.
In Arizona, for example, some 600,000 ballots remain to be counted. Most of them, about 400,000 ballots, are in Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state that includes Phoenix.
Of those ballots, about 290,000 were delivered to vote centers on Election Day, Bill Gates, chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, told Trends Wide on Thursday. Those ballots must be processed before they can be counted, creating a tabulation backlog.
In addition, the county has about 17,000 ballots that were attempted to be counted on Election Day, but were not read by the tabulator due to a printer error, and those ballots must also be counted.
In Nevada, state law allows you to receive ballots in the mail until Saturday, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. That means counties are still getting ballots to be counted.
Clark County, the largest county in the state that includes Las Vegas, received more than 12,000 postmarked ballots from the Post Office on Wednesday, Clark County Recorder Joe Gloria said.
Additionally, Nevada counties have tens of thousands of mail-in ballots that were deposited on Election Day in drop boxes located at polling places. Clark County said its Election Day mailboxes contained nearly 57,000 mail-in ballots.
Trump vs. DeSantis
The lackluster performance of several candidates backed by former President Donald Trump has cast new doubt on his long-awaited 2024 campaign.
At the same time, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ resounding re-election victory fuels calls for him to seize the moment and challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination.
The Trump-DeSantis matchup has simmered for months, but it could come to light when the primary officially begins.
After the ‘red wave’ subsides, McCarthy faces a tougher road
Republicans are still close to a majority in the House, even after Democrats had a better-than-expected night on Tuesday.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is moving quickly to secure the votes needed to claim the speaker’s gavel in the next Congress. Trends Wide has not yet screened a Republican take on the camera.
But the ultimate size of a Republican majority could determine how difficult it will be for McCarty to become president, as a narrow majority could cause the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus caucus to stand in the way of McCarthy’s leadership ambitions. .
A source familiar with the deliberations of the House Freedom Caucus told Trends Wide Wednesday morning that there are about two dozen current and incoming members willing to vote against McCarthy if he doesn’t offer them concessions.
Trends Wide’s Ellie Kaufmann, Bob Ortega, Gary Tuchman, Paul Vercammen, Kristen Holmes, Gabby Orr, Manu Raju and Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.
