The counting of votes continues long after Election Day. Mail ballots arriving within legal deadlines must be counted, provisional ballots verified, and every tally checked. Certification is the formal step that turns these counts into official results, and it became newly contested after the 2020 election, when some officials and lawmakers sought to delay or refuse it.
This guide follows the process from polls closing to final certification, with special attention to presidential elections.
The results reported on election night are unofficial counts released by local officials and compiled by news organizations. Many ballots remain to be counted, including mail ballots that arrive by the legal deadline, ballots from military and overseas voters, and provisional ballots cast by voters whose eligibility must be checked. States that do not allow mail ballots to be processed before Election Day often take longer, and counts can shift as different types of ballots are added.
During the canvass, county or town election officials reconcile the number of ballots with the number of voters who checked in, verify provisional ballots, correct errors, and review damaged or questionable ballots, often with observers from both parties watching. The local board or official then certifies the results. State law sets deadlines, which range from a few days to about a month after Election Day.
Most states conduct post-election audits that compare a sample of paper ballots with machine counts, and a growing number use risk-limiting audits designed to confirm that the reported winner is correct. Many states order an automatic recount when the margin falls within a set threshold, often half a percentage point or less, and candidates can request recounts in most states. Recounts rarely change outcomes and typically shift totals by a few hundred votes.
Under the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, each state's governor, or another official named by state law before the election, must issue a certificate identifying the winning electors no later than six days before the electors meet in December. The law creates expedited review by three-judge federal courts for disputes over that certificate and requires Congress to accept certificates that follow court rulings. The electors then cast their votes in their states, and certificates of their votes are sent to the President of the Senate, the National Archives, and others.
After counties certify, a secretary of state, state board, or canvassing commission certifies statewide results. Courts have repeatedly held that certification is a ministerial duty, and when local officials in some counties refused to certify results in 2022 and later, state courts ordered them to do so. A losing candidate who believes fraud or error changed the outcome can file an election contest in court, which must be supported by evidence. In 2020 courts rejected dozens of challenges for lack of evidence or standing.
On January 6, the House and Senate meet in joint session to count electoral votes, with the Vice President presiding in a purely ministerial role. An objection now requires one-fifth of the members of each chamber and can succeed only on narrow grounds with the support of both chambers. For their own members, the Constitution makes each chamber the judge of the elections and qualifications of its members, so the House or Senate can hear contested elections. Supporters of the 2022 reforms say they closed loopholes exposed in 2020, while some critics argue that more election rules should be federally standardized and others that states should keep full control.
See who conducts elections in who runs elections in America, follow the electoral vote in the Electoral College explained, or see the full cycle in the presidential election, start to finish.