Here’s what we will — and won’t — know on election night for Washington state midterms

Your vote counts — but when and how is it counted?

Washington state midterm election polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 8, and eligible voters have been casting ballots since October.

Election Day isn’t what it used to be with the wide use of vote-by-mail across the United States. You still have the option to go to the polls physically, but regardless of your method, your ballot is tallied and certified the same way.

Election Basics: The Vocab

To understand the system, here are terms to familiarize yourself with:

Tabulate: To count systematically

Processing ballots: Typically involves verifying the voter’s signature

Vote counting: Recording votes manually or by a machine

Certify: To confirm or verify

The canvass: The official tally of votes

What will you know on election night in WA state?

You’ll see early, unofficial results on election night. We might have a sense of the winner of certain races that are not closely contested.

What won’t you know on election night in WA state?

You won’t know the official election results on election night. For those, we’ll all be waiting for the counties and Secretary of State to certify the count.

How does WA state count ballots?

Counties begin processing mail ballots as soon as they are received before the election on Tuesday.

Counties can process mail ballots up until Election Day, but they can’t be counted until after polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 8.

Once the polls close, officials and the Secretary of State immediately begin tallying early-returned mail ballots and ballots cast at voting centers. This process continues daily for counties with a population of 75,000 or more or at least every three days for counties with a population of less than 75,000.

Counties have 20 days after the election to send results to the state.

The Secretary of State will then receive a certified statement of the election results from county officials.

One month after the election, the Secretary of State must determine the winners, certify the results and deliver certificates of election to the elected candidates.

Official results will be posted by Dec. 8 to the Secretary of State’s website.

When will we know the final election results?

Residents will know some of the results of the Washington state general election as early as Tuesday night.

After the polls close at 8 p.m., rolling results will be posted to the Secretary of State’s website and updated as counties count the ballots.

The official certified election results will be available to residents by Dec. 8 on the Secretary of State’s website, meaning it will take up to a month to know the final results of the Washington 2022 general election.

Track your ballot in WA state

You can track your mail-in ballot inside the state’s voter portal. You must return your ballot via drop box, or it must be postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day.