Counting Mail-In Ballots Delays Results, But Doesn’t Denote Fraud

Quick Take

Mail-in ballots have become a popular way to vote in the U.S. But the unfounded claim persists that mail ballots lead to rampant fraud and, if counted after Election Day, they are suspect. By law, many states don’t start counting mail ballots until after polls close, and some continue to accept them for days after Election Day if they are postmarked by that date.

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A claim that seems to contradict itself — that counting all ballots will result in election fraud — was widespread in 2020 and has resurfaced ahead of this year’s midterms.

Former President Donald Trump made the claim multiple times prior to the 2020 election, alleging that mail-in ballots tabulated after Election Day were suspect and that courts should stop states from counting them. We wrote about it at the time, explaining that many states accept ballots after Election Day if they are postmarked by that date and most states aren’t legally allowed to start counting mail-in ballots until Election Day. So it’s routine to get the results after Election Day.

Nevertheless, the claim has lingered among election deniers and has had a mainstream resurgence recently.

For example, Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson — who hosts cable news shows, according to Nielsen — played a clip from in which the president noted