Official U.S. election vote counts legally take weeks to certify

Ahead of the November 8 midterm elections in the United States, online posts have expressed doubts about the significance of vote counting continuing after election day – with social media users suggesting this is sign of a plan to manipulate the results. While media organizations often “call” elections on election night or soon after, experts on election processes told Reuters elections are frequently never confirmed on election night and the process of verifying ballots can take weeks.

Examples of posts characterizing this process as a “set up for the big...