Michigan pollster says expect a 'red mirage' on election night

FOX 2 (WJBK) - Michigan voters are accustomed to getting election results on election night but that won't be the case this Tuesday night.  It may be 24 hours after the polls close that we will know who won in some key races and this could create another debate over who really won.  

"I am really worried about what is going to happen on election night," said Richard Czuba.

Czuba, a Michigan pollster, with Glengariff, is not alone.

The person in charge of running a smooth, fair, and accurate election is worried as well - on two fronts. First, about potential distractions in and around polling places, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson worries about how long it will take to count a mountain of absentee ballots of well over 1.2 million.

Those will not be counted on election eve.

So when will we know the final results of the election?

"It will be about a day, until Wednesday evening when, especially in close races, we'll know the full unofficial results of the election," Benson said.

On Election Day most of the voters will be Republicans which means after the polls close, those votes will be counted. And based on those Republican votes, candidate for governor Tudor Dixon could announce that she is the winner and the GOP candidate for state attorney general, Matt DePerno, could do the same.

However, that announcement would be before over a million absentee votes have not been counted and about 63 percent of those are Democrats, which will likely have an impact on the final results.

"It would not surprise me on election night, if the Republicans are leading, Tudor Dixon, (Secretary of State challenger) Kristina Karamo, or Matt DePerno, that they would try to declare victory," said Bernie Porn, pollster for Epic MRA. "Because it may be a day or two later before the final results from absentee votes are weighed in on the total results."

And just like in 2020 when President Donald Trump declared victory on election night, only to lose to Joe Biden the next day, some Republicans could again allege the election in Michigan, was rigged.

"Yep. Very possible," Czuba said.

"Anybody declaring a win early doesn't know what they are talking about," said Czuba. "There's going to be a red mirage."

Nonetheless, Republicans could claim the election results are wrong, so you can see why the person in charge of election integrity is so concerned. It could trigger another heated battle over who really won.