Why is it Taking So Long to Count Votes?

Arizona and Nevada are still counting votes, and results might not be final until next week. Why?

Key Quotes: Clark County, Nevada's registrar of voters said Friday is likely "when we’ll have the majority of the ballots counted." The Maricopa County, Arizona recorder's office described the early ballot-counting process, saying that "we scan the barcode that links to a registered voter. We make sure that’s a valid, registered voter and make sure the voter hasn’t cast a ballot previously, and then we capture the image of that signature affidavit...Once the signature is matched, we can forward that to the bipartisan ballot processing team."

For Context: Too-close-to-call Senate races in both states may decide which party controls the chamber. Ballot-counting issues at Arizona polling centers on Election Day frustrated voters and fueled unfounded theories about fraud.

Where People Agree: A Washington Examiner writer said the delays "are a choice, not an inevitability, and their results are irritating for people of all political persuasions." A Brennan Center for Justice (BCJ) writer said counting mail-in ballots slowly has "disastrous consequences for public trust in elections."

Where People Disagree: Citing misinformation about the counting process, the BCJ writer said blame should be "on the state legislators who failed to address a known source of conspiracy theories." The Examiner writer didn't cite concerns about misinformation, and focused on urging legislators to "look to Florida's system of tabulating votes and model their own systems after it."