How many votes could be implicated should post-Election Day legal challenges arise? Former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling, a Democrat who oversaw its shift to all-mail balloting, said that 90 percent of voters who apply to vote with absentee ballots return those ballots. According to the U.S. Elections Project, which gets its data from state election officials, as of Friday, October 30, hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots are still in play.
... In North Carolina, 883,000 ballots have been returned, out of 1.45 million requested ballots, a return rate of 61 percent. Nearly 600,000 absentee ballots have not yet been received.
...In Pennsylvania, 2.1 million ballots have been returned, out of 3.1 million requested ballots, a return rate of 68 percent. Nearly 985,000 absentee ballots have not yet been received.
... In Minnesota, nearly 1.6 million people voted early and returned their absentee ballots. The state doesn't further break down those figures. Statewide, 1.97 million absentee ballots were requested. While there may yet be more federal litigation before Election Day, the big picture is that the Republicans appear to be placing little stock in popular vote victories and are on track to try to win some swing states via challenging late-returning absentee ballots -- and as the opening move in post-Election Day litigation. Democrats, on the other hand, are continuing to push voters to return their absentee ballots in person, vote early or vote on Election Day.
Under any scenario, it's not likely a presidential election winner would be known until later in the week -- at the earliest. The U.S. Senate's majority will take longer, as some states such as Georgia are likely to see runoffs. And control of state legislatures may take longer still, if the balance comes down to a few contests where recounts are triggered.
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