Good Question: How are votes counted on Election Day?
MINNEAPOLIS -- Millions will vote in next week's mid-term elections. Here in Minnesota, we have one of highest turnouts in the country. But determining who won, from governor down to school board, takes a lot of work.
So how is your vote counted? Good Question.
First, if you voted by mail, the county ballot board opens the envelop, accepts or rejects the ballot. That ballot board has both DFL and Republican Party members on it.
They then sort your ballot, process it, and send it through the scanners. Nothing is tabulated or counted until Election Day.
If you vote in person, you put it into the ballot box, which is programmed not to report results until 8:01 p.m. When the judges put in a code, it will print out a report.
In Ramsey County, someone from each precinct actually drives that report to county headquarters. In most other counties, it's sent wirelessly and securely.
Once they're there -- the absentee and in-person voted are combined and sent on to the Secretary of State's office.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press is counting votes as well. They partner with media organizations, including WCCO. They have stringers in almost every county.
Those reporters call into the AP's vote center, where people gather that data. They gather results from the Secretary of state and local election offices, too.
The AP's vote verification process involves a group of experts who have studied changes in election laws, changes in rules, and flag numbers that don't look right. They do not perform exit polls.
In the races that take hours, or days, the AP will leave the race uncalled until they're confident.
For big, national races, CBS News also has teams watching the numbers and analyzing them in real time. That way, we can bring you results as quickly and accurately as possible.