RICHMOND, Va. -- Longer voting liners are expected Tuesday evening in Virginia, according to Chris Piper with the Virginia Department of Elections. Long lines have not been much of an issue throughout Election Day he said due to the record number of early voting across Virginia.
"If you are in line at 7 p.m., you will be able to cast your ballot," Piper said.
Once the polls close at 7 p.m., the counting of the votes begins.
"Election Night results will populate as they have in the past, with precincts coming in from each locality, beginning after the polls close at 7 p.m.," Piper said. "All mail-in voting and early in-person voting will be reported in each localities Central Absentee Precinct (CAP). While absentee ballots can be marked received and scanned prior to Election Day, no vote totals can be determined until after the polls have closed. The Department of Elections gave localities a cutoff time of 11 p.m. to stop processing ballots and report those numbers."
Those vote tallies will not update exactly at 11 p.m. Tuesday, Piper said.
"It will take them time to tabulate those results. And so they will be coming in throughout the night. But, you know, if they haven't reported by 11, we expect them to report sometime after 11. I want to make sure that's clear," he said. "The deadline for the ballots to come in is Noon on Friday. And so that that means that there could be some processing that occurs through Friday, and maybe even Saturday or Sunday. So those ballots, those numbers, that CAP may not be updated right at Noon on Friday, but in the hours and even days afterwards."
Localities will certify their results on November 10.
The State Board of Elections will meet November 16 for the final certification.
