GREENSBORO, N.C. — The majority of election experts say there's a good chance by end of Tuesday night we might not know who wins the presidential race, the governor's race, senator or even some of our local races.
It all has to do with a Supreme Court ruling giving North Carolina more time to count mail-in ballots. You still have to have your ballot postmarked by election day. But as long as it makes it to the Board of Elections office by Nov. 12, it will be counted.
It's easy to see the decision's impact when you take a look at the numbers. As of Monday morning, the State Board of Elections says there is 158,000 mail-in ballots that have not been returned. It's possible but not likely they could all make it back by tomorrow. Or all those people could show up to vote in person instead. That would mean we'd get all the results back pretty quickly tomorrow. But if more than 44,000 are outstanding we're gonna have to wait.
44,000 is about how many people pollsters say separate the two presidential candidates in our state according to an averaage of the latest major polls.
In fact legal experts who focus on elections say if results take a while, don't panic.
"A delay of election results on that night is not an indication of a problem," said Ohio State professor Steven Huefner. "It is in fact, a demonstration of the sound design of the process."
Also know it's possible some political candidates could claim victory before we actually know who wins the race. It's best to find trustworthy news sources like WFMY News 2 and the Associated Press. The folks in charge of calling those races say they are planning on taking their time to make sure they're right.