Making Sure Your Vote Counts

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in early voting. Many people are voting at home and returning ballots by dropping them off at a secure ballot box or putting them in the mail.

These ballots can take longer to process and will continue to arrive at election offices for several days after November 3. In many states, ballots are valid as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and received within a specified time period. Regulations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, for example, specify that ballots delivered up to three days after the election must be counted. In Iowa, ballots that are postmarked before Election Day are valid as long as they are received by noon on the Monday following the election.

This means that the outcome of the election may not be clear on Election Night. It's important to take as much time as necessary to have an accurate, complete vote count. But Donald Trump has been raising unfounded concerns about election fraud, and he may prematurely declare victory before all the votes are counted or try to stop all legitimate ballots from being counted.

That's unacceptable. The Protect the Results coalition, of which CWA is a member, is preparing to protect our democracy by ensuring that every vote is counted. To learn more about how you can get involved, visit cwa.org/protecttheresults.