Michigan Secretary of State: Votes will be counted within 24 hours

It shouldn’t take days to count votes. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson insists that in Michigan, it won’t.

Last Tuesday, at a speech in Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden offered an extended time frame for counting votes, urging the public to be patient.

This was an odd stance to take, as federal officials will not be counting votes.

“We know that more and more ballots are cast in early voting or by mail in America. And we know that many states don’t start counting those ballots until after the polls close on November 8th,” Biden explained. “That means, in some cases, we won’t know the winner of the election for a few days — until after a few days after the election. It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner.”

But in Michigan, Benson says, every vote should be counted within 24 hours of the end of Election Day — 8 p.m. Tuesday.

A day after Biden’s speech, Benson held a press conference of her own. She offered a 24-hour time frame, not days. And Benson said it would only take that long because of a limited ability to pre-process absentee ballots in some areas.

The presidency is not on the ballot on Tuesday. The Michigan Secretary of State is the better source for the timing of ballot-counting. And the time frame quoted is 24 hours.

In Michigan, the governor, attorney general and secretary of state are on the ballot, as well as every Michigan House seat, a portion of the Senate, and the House members in the congressional delegation.

Absentee voting began weeks ago. Polls open 7 a.m. Tuesday, and close at 8 p.m.