As millions of people vote early, here's what you need to know for Election Day and beyond

The election is still a week away. But millions of ballots have already been cast, laying the foundation for one of the most consequential elections in U.S. history.

On Election Day, voters across the country determine the makeup of Congress and a variety of other state and local offices. Most importantly, this election will determine who becomes the next U.S. president. Officials are preparing not only for Nov. 5, but also for the days, weeks and months it will take to count, obtain and confirm the results.

Here's what you should know as you go to the polls and wait for the results.

Millions of people vote early – but in some states the counting doesn't happen until Election Day

Early voting has brought record numbers of voters to the polls. North Carolina set a record for the number of ballots cast on the first day of early voting, surpassing two million votes last week. “This is the most important vote of your lifetime,” North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall told Democracy Docket on Tuesday, noting that the state now has more than 3 million votes.

Every state conducts elections differently. Check your local government website to find out when polls open and close and early voting deadlines.

Don't be alarmed if you see poll watchers at the polls. Political parties appoint election observers, usually volunteers, to monitor the electoral process. Each state has different rules as you can observe.

Although most states (43) allow jurisdictions to begin processing absentee and absentee ballots before Election Day, some states do not count until Election Day. North Carolina, for example, requires that vote counting begin after polls close at 7:30 p.m. “In Wisconsin, you can’t start opening mail-in ballots until 8 a.m. on Election Day,” said Reid Ribble, a former Wisconsin representative who serves on the Wisconsin advisory board of the nonprofit Keep Our Republic. “So this is going to take some time and people need to understand the process.”

Ribble, speaking to reporters at a briefing on Oct. 25, explained how arduous the process can be. Once a clerk opens a mail-in ballot, they must “separate the envelope from the ballot.” The ballot must be moved to a separate location for tabulation so that there is no connection between the voter and the ballot and to maintain the privacy and secrecy of your ballot. It will take some time.”

Pennsylvania is also a prime example. Days after the 2020 presidential election, then-incumbent President Donald Trump's lead over Joe Biden shrank in Pennsylvania, and the gap continued to shrink as election workers counted millions of ballots after polls closed.

Ultimately, Biden won the battleground state's 20 electoral votes, buoyed by mail-in ballots, most of which favored Biden. Experts called it the “Blue Shift,” essentially meaning that the high number of mail-in ballots ultimately benefited Biden because Democrats tend to vote by mail. In 2020, more people voted early or by mail than in person, largely due to the pandemic.

But the shift, preceded by Trump's claims that the election was rigged, fueled misinformation and allegations of voter fraud. In the months leading up to November, Trump was still claiming he had won 2020 despite losing to Biden. A recent CNN poll found that the majority of registered voters who responded to the poll do not believe Trump will concede if he loses.

Former Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar told Democracy Docket that election officials and those tasked with informing voters need to be both “proactive and reactive.” We need to do a better job of disseminating information in advance, but then we also need to respond to crazy accusations in the moment.”

What happens after the votes are counted?

Once cities, counties and jurisdictions have tabulated the results, the canvassing phase begins, usually about a week after Election Day.

Election officials review and certify the accuracy of each ballot, including provisional, contested and foreign ballots. In Michigan, for example, every county and state has a committee that reviews and ultimately certifies the results.

“There’s a reason why certification deadlines in most states are weeks after Election Day,” Boockvar said. “And the reason for that is we want to make sure our elections are accurate. So we have this built-in period of time where we not only collect ballots openly and publicly under bipartisan oversight, but we also have two different audits in Pennsylvania, one at the county level and one at the state level, and all of these things (happen) during that time. “

Electoral boards are required to certify the results. Allegations of fraud or voting problems that cannot otherwise be resolved by election officials are typically heard in court. But in the wake of the 2020 and 2022 elections, concerns about certification have increased as board members question their own certification requirements.

In Georgia, a judge ruled in October that certification of election results was a mandatory requirement after a county election official filed a lawsuit arguing that individual members could certify at their own discretion.

“In every case, the court did exactly what it was supposed to do,” Boockvar said. “The courts have ordered election officials to certify the results. These are non-discretionary duties.”

She added that there could be legal consequences for officials who refuse to certify, but: “The overwhelming majority of election officials are some of the hardest-working, most dedicated people on the planet who will never think twice about it.”

There is a timeline for when the certification process must be completed. Each state appoints a list of electors who cast the state's electoral votes for president and vice president. This year, those names must be submitted to Congress no later than December 11th. The voters are then expected to meet in their states on December 17th. And the final deadline for sending votes to Congress is December 25th. Perhaps the most important two days of the election are January 6th – when Congress meets for confirmation – and the inauguration on January 20th.

In the meantime, contact election officials and other trusted sources for accurate information about the results and process. Democracy Docket will monitor the courts and prosecute election and election-related lawsuits.

Learn more about how states manage their lists of registered voters.

What happens if you make a mistake on your ballot?

How poll watching became so controversial.