Election
Day is tomorrow, but the results may not be known for quite some time.
Thousands
of Long Islanders are willing to stand in long lines for hours, rain or shine,
to cast their ballots.
Every vote
counts, but not every vote is counted on Election Day and that's an issue in
determining winners and losers this year.
More than
300,000 Nassau and Suffolk residents requested absentee ballots.
Suffolk
Board of Elections GOP Commissioner Nick LaLota says counting those ballots
will take a lot of time.
“It’s very unlikely that the Board
of Elections will be able to call much, if any, races on election night,” says LaLota.
Absentee ballots won't be counted until a week after Election Day. So
what will we know on Nov. 3? News 12 asked Nassau
Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Jim Scheuerman.
“
On election night you'll have
the results from early voting, and you'll have the results from Election Day,” says Scheuerman.
People on both sides of the aisle are concerned about how this will all play
out. President Donald Trump is urging his supporters to head to the polls.
“So important for you to go to
out and vote in person, this is the most important election in our lifetime,” says President Donald Trump.
The president tweeted: "Must know election results on the night of
the election, not days, months or even years later."
Meanwhile, some Democrats have concerns of
their own - they say what if the outcome of this race is ultimately decided by
the Supreme Court?
Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, tweeted, "President Trump has
been clear that he wanted Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the court to help him in
election challenges."
It's unclear when we'll get the final vote tally in New York.
“The time lag in counting the
absentees is to make sure no one votes twice. So we're never going to sacrifice
accuracy for speed when it comes to an election,” says Scheuerman.
“On Long Island, there aren't so many really
red, or really really blue districts, maybe those will be the ones called on
Election Day, but the rest of them, 80 or 90 percent of them, won't be able to be called
until all of the paper ballots are counted,” says LaLota.