--- title: We Won't Learn the Result of Every Race on Election Night description: That’s not a sign of fraud, but of democracy. And in some races, more GOP votes will be counted earlier, giving a false impression early on. canonical: https://time.com/6230289/election-night-results-timing-democracy/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-11-08T12:00:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:00:29.575Z article:section: Politics og:title: We Won't Learn the Result of Every Race on Election Night og:description: That’s not a sign of fraud, but of democracy og:url: https://time.com/6230289/election-night-results-timing-democracy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2554c12578886918/698a378b457a52fb81d67063/GettyImages-1439576165-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Arizona Prepares For Close Midterm Election Races og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: We Won't Learn the Result of Every Race on Election Night twitter:description: That’s not a sign of fraud, but of democracy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2554c12578886918/698a378b457a52fb81d67063/GettyImages-1439576165-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Election Night Is Going to Take All Week. That’s Democracy at Work > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Nov 8, 2022 12:00 PM UTC  An elections worker inspects a mail-in ballot prior to tabulation at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center on November 06, 2022, in Phoenix, Ariz. An elections worker inspects a mail-in ballot prior to tabulation at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center on November 06, 2022, in Phoenix, Ariz. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Nov 8, 2022 12:00 PM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ After the polls close this evening and election results start to pour in, the biggest threat to your faith in democracy may be the constant clicking on your browser’s refresh button. Election Day in America has never been more transparent, as real-time data is loaded into reporting systems, transmitted on news organizations’ internal distribution channels, and published online. Those results, however, have never been more prone to garbage interpretation in amateur hands. Don’t believe me? Just look at all the armchair analyses two years ago, starting with then-President Donald Trump’s own [misguided](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/fact-check-trump-falsely-suggests-improper-voter-dump-count-continues-n1252939)—and likely disingenuous—reading of the early numbers that suggested a landslide in his favor. As more ballots were counted, his lead eroded, becoming the basis of the [Big Lie](https://time.com/6112488/trump-2020-election-republicans/). Which is [why](https://time.com/5898110/if-there-is-no-result-on-election-day/) Election Day is more like Election Week in [reality](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/11/07/why-we-wont-know-much-on-election-night/). And that’s actually [good](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/11/03/help-democracy-cancel-election-night/) for democracy. First, an important fact: good Republican numbers will come earlier than Democratic ones tonight in some swing states. That will result in what data nerds call a [Red Mirage](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/11/03/help-democracy-cancel-election-night/). That’s because Democrats avail themselves more of early and absentee voting, while Republicans more often vote the day of the election based on the faulty belief it’s safer. Mailed-in ballots take longer to count, don’t always arrive at election offices before Election Day, and often are put at the back of the line. Also, the raft of early votes this year is massive: 41 million returned and climbing. Any candidate declaring victory tonight either won in something resembling a landslide, or is trying to circumvent a responsible count. **Read More:**[ _Live Updates From the 2022 Midterm Elections_](https://time.com/6230857/midterm-election-results-2022-latest/) It’s a good bet that this “Red Mirage” phenomenon is going to fuel hundreds of tweets about [Pennsylvania](https://time.com/6225265/john-fetterman-vibes-pennsylvania-senate-race/), where a tight contest for Senate is unfolding. Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Trump-backed Republican, is highly favored to post an early lead because election officials weren’t allowed to start tallying the piles of ballots sitting in their offices until polls opened today. It’s the same in [Wisconsin](https://time.com/6204801/mandela-barnes-wisconsin-senate-ron-johnson/), where incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson is fighting hard to keep his job. In both of those states, strong Democratic candidates are expected to narrow the leads as the evening unfolds—meaning it may mirror what happened in 2020, when many Republicans went to bed believing Trump had prevailed only to wake up and find that the race was still up in the air. It’s a similar situation in [Michigan](https://time.com/6193886/gretchen-whitmer-michigan-abortion-interview/), where election officials only get a two-day head-start for counting ballots. In those three states alone, more than 3.1 million votes have been cast early, up from 1.8 million votes for those states in 2018, the last non-presidential year. And in a few other [states](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/11/07/why-we-wont-know-much-on-election-night/) with potentially competitive races, the Democratic numbers will also come rolling in slower. In Georgia, New York, North Carolina, and Texas, officials will start Tuesday with a batch of processed ballots and can start counting them right away. In New Mexico, Virginia and Washington state, officials will start Tuesday having processed early ballots but be prohibited from counting them until polls close. And In New Hampshire, officials can process the incoming ballots starting in the morning but cannot count them until polls close—meaning incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan may, for a while, look like she’s coasting to a loss. Responsible strategists in any of these states, but in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in particular, are quietly telling supporters not to expect complete official results early in the night, or even after midnight. In fact, it could take several days to figure out who actually prevailed in Senate races in those three states—two of which could determine the balance of power in the 100-seat chamber come January. Democrats are defending a 50-seat majority, thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking powers. And with 70% of the early votes in Pennsylvania coming from Democrats, it lays the groundwork for grievance to bloom. Trump exploited the counting rules two years ago—and to this day—to declare himself victorious. He claimed that unscrupulous Democrats “dumped” ballots and “stuffed” the ballot boxes. Such reckless statements fed the false belief that the election had been stolen from Trump, ginned up demonstrations against election chiefs, and culminated with a failed, but deadly, [insurrection](https://time.com/6209156/trump-documents-fbi-jan-6/) at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Which brings us back to this point: it’s going to take a while to count all of the ballots, but they will be counted; early Republican strongholds are unlikely to remain as deep red as they may appear in the 9 o’clock hour; and a possible late surge of blue ballots are part of the process, not a sign of fraud. So step away from the refreshed datasets, give yourself permission to be patient, and absolutely do not go down the conspiracy-wallpapered rabbit hole of voter fraud—because that is exactly what enemies of American democracy and promoters of disinformation want you to do. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6230289/election-night-results-timing-democracy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6230289/election-night-results-timing-democracy/"},"headline":"Election Night Is Going to Take All Week. That’s Democracy at Work","datePublished":"2022-11-08T12:00:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T15:00:29.575Z","description":"We won't know all the winners Tuesday night. 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