Where Do I Find Election Results?

Elections results are often separated into two categories: unofficial and official.

Unofficial results are announced by poll workers shortly after polls close on Election Night. These results are typically shared with media organizations and may be posted online by local election officials.

Unofficial results are subject to change as additional ballots are counted and tallies are confirmed. We do not publish unofficial election results.

Official results are final election results that have been certified by local clerks and submitted to our office. We publish official on our election results database after we receive and review them.

Learn more about the certification of election results below.

Unofficial Results

Unofficial election results are often released by local officials to media organizations on Election Night. However, local officials don’t report unofficial results to the state. We receive election results from cities and towns only after local clerks finalize and certify them.

Unofficial results typically don’t include write-in, provisional, military, or overseas ballots. They also don’t separate mail-in vote tallies from in-person vote tallies. Any totals reported on Election Night include all methods of voting (mail, early, and Election Day).

For elections requiring all ballots to be counted on Election Night, it may take a few hours to complete the count.

• Last-minute ballot drop box returns may delay the reporting of results, as the ballots must be sent to the local election office for signature verification and then counted after voter lists are returned from polling places.
• If last-minute ballot returns will cause significant delays in reporting unofficial totals, officials may release partial precinct results.
• Partial results will include all votes except for ballots returned to drop boxes shortly before the close of polls. When those votes are counted, officials will update the results.

Official Results

We publish final, certified official results to our election results database. Local officials must certify results before they can be certified at the state level.

After each state election and primary, local election officials must review tally sheets, resolve remaining ballots, and finalize results. They have a set period of days to submit official results:

• State Election: 15 days
• State Primary: 4 days
• Presidential Primary: 4 days

In this post-election certification period, local election officials must:

• Investigate provisional ballots and count eligible votes
• Review write-in vote tallies to ensure an accurate count
• Confirm vote tallies by precinct
• Wait 10 days for overseas ballots to arrive in the mail (state elections only)
• Count mail ballots that arrive on or after Election Day (state elections only)
• Conduct random post-election audits (presidential elections only)

After local election officials certify the results, they submit them to our office for state certification. For state elections, we then present the election results to the Governor and Governor’s Council for final certification.

This final certification typically occurs in late November or early December, depending on the Governor’s Council’s meeting schedule.

If you have any questions about election results, contact our office or your local election office.