Post Misleadingly Questions Unfinished Ballot Counting in Some States

The 2024 presidential election was called by the Associated Press for President-elect Donald Trump the day after the Nov. 5 general election. Trump won 312 electoral college votes, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, who received 226. 

Results announced by the media on Election Day or shortly after are projections, and always have been, factoring in a combination of the votes that had been reported, exit polling and other statistics, Justin Levitt, an elections law expert at Loyola Marymount University’s law school, told us in an email. But they are not official election results, which cannot occur until all eligible votes are counted. Most state laws give local election officials two to three weeks to officially certify election returns, Levitt said.  

“In the nation’s history, there has literally never been an official presidential election result on Election Night,” Levitt said. “Local election officials aren’t legally permitted to decide elections based on projections, which is why we don’t just award the election to the person who’s leading in the polls.”

But Trump and other Republicans and conservative commentators, such as Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, for years have made false and unfounded accusations of cheating by the Democrats in presidential elections.