When will we know election results: What to know about Michigan vote counting

DETROIT (FOX 2) - When you head to your favorite search engine this week and type in just the word ‘when’, it will autocomplete with the following six words: when will we know election results?

It's the question on everyone's mind this week as Election Day is finally here. After Tuesday night, we can say goodbye to the election ads that are everywhere. We can say goodbye to the endless political campaigning by presidential candidates. And, soon after, we'll say hello to our next President of the United States.

The 2020 election was unprecedented in many different ways – none more so than the long delays in a winner ultimately being announced. That year, we went to the polls on Nov. 3, and it wasn't until Nov. 7 that Joe Biden was finally declared the winner.

When Michigan presidential results will be in

That election was weighed down by delays in counting absentee ballots across the state of Michigan but also the rest of the country.

Here in Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is confident that the Great Lakes State will have results posted sooner than 2020. 

Which is saying something – considering that four years ago, Michigan announced a winner within 24 hours of polls closing.

Benson has remained confident in the process as Michigan has taken big steps to avoid a repeat of 2020. 

Early voting started nine days ago for the first time in a presidential election. But more than that is the ability for clerks to begin pre-processing both early voting and absentee ballots. Michigan election workers will have eight days to count mail-in ballots.

"You can expect to see ballots cast at early voting centers and in-person in precincts tomorrow to be among the first numbers to be released in those early totals," she said Monday.

In other words, they're getting a head start on counting those ballots that have already been cast.

Everything from opening the envelope, verifying the ballot inside is valid, and inserting it into the tabulator can be done before Election Day. The only thing that won't happen is publishing the results. They won't be generated until after polls close at 8 p.m. local time on election night.

When will we know the President?

While 2020 was historic for the time, the previous presidential election in 2016 took just 4 hours after most closed before Donald Trump was declared the winner.

This year, the race is expected to come down to seven states Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The size of the map and the tightness of the race make it hard to predict when a winner could be declared.

To be more clear – we don't know. 

We won't know until those results start coming in, especially in North Carolina and Georgia. Those two swing states are expected to have early results relatively quickly. That doesn’t mean we’ll get the final results in those states quickly if the returns are close, but they are the first swing states that might offer a sense of what kind of night we’re in for.

Why Michigan is confident in its results

Last week, Benson said she anticipated many communities will be done by election night.

"I anticipate many of our communities will be finished by election night," Benson said.

In Detroit, city clerk Janice Winfrey expects to have 100% of results tabulated by the end of the night on election night.

The city also opened early voting a week earlier than the rest of the state.

That includes Detroit, whose clerk has set her sights on confirming 100% of the city's results by the end of the night on Nov. 5. Janice Winfrey also opened early voting in the city a week before many others in Michigan, giving residents an entire extra week to cast their ballot. She hopes the convenience of heading to one of the city's 14 early polling sites will help increase participation.

"But my biggest concern is always turnout," she said. "I always pray for hardy turnout."

On Monday, the secretary said more than 250,000 people had used the state's new early voting option, while another 1.5 million voters filled out their ballot from home.