CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Part of the fun for elections fans and politicos is watching TV and online coverage of the races on Election Night, and keeping track of how many precincts or states have reported as the race inches closer to being called.
It's their Super Bowl.
But according to Texas A&M University-Kingsville assoc. professor Travis Braidwood, this game may take a little longer to decide.
"Every state has their own different election rules, so some states can start counting mail-in ballots early," he said. "Some states don't even have mail-in ballots -- some states have to wait 'til Election Day. So we’re gonna see variation amongst all the different states in terms of when they can process those ballots, and that goes well into the evening."
He said the reason ballots aren't all accounted for by the end of the night has nothing to do with stolen elections, and more to do with simple human frailty.
"Poor poll workers are there -- sometimes until the middle of the night -- trying to rack up all these totals, and sometimes it just doesn't get done and they have to wait until the next day," he said. "Because they need to sleep, too."
He said some US House of Representatives races, along with the marquee race in this election, is one of the ones that could take at least a day to be decided.
"You may wanna lower your expectations for having a definite answer, particularly for the presidential race," he said.
Early voting began Monday and runs through Nov. 1.
Turnout has been high, not only in Nueces County and the Coastal Bend, but nationwide, Braidwood said.
"We’ve seen higher numbers than we’ve ever had," he said.
Traditionally Democrats early-vote, he said, which tends to give Republicans the appearance of an early lead.
"Then it starts to balance out as we start counting those early and absentee ballots," he said.
But the fact that early-voting numbers are higher this election cycle is a trend that will inadvertantly add more intrigue to the 2024 races.
"The big question is gonna be: Is that both Democrats and Republicans early voting so we actually end up with a very tight, contentious election?" he said. "Or since -- historically speaking -- Democrats tend to vote more early, are we actually seeing signs of maybe a democratic surge? It’s hard to tell. Because we can’t count the ballots. So we’ll never know until the Election Day comes."
While most people have their minds made up as to who their voting for in the big races -- Harris or Trump, Allred or Cruz -- he said it's also important to look at the sample ballots available for your county and precinct in order to be fully informed of your choices. You'll need to know your precinct number to ensure you have the right one. That is included on your voter-registration card.
"There's a lot of other people on the ballot besides looking at Trump and Harris," he said. "So there’s a lot of elections here -- depending on where you live, who you can vote for -- and there's gonna be ballot measures. City initiatives things you needs to spend a little time reading, because they're really complicated.
In Corpus Christi, those initiatives include Propositions A-F, which include funding for streets, parks and recreation, drainage and flood control, public safety and cultural facilities.
But he also reminds voters that if they don't feel like they know enough about the candidates or measures on the ballot, that not voting in that specific race also is an option.
"For some of these races it’ll say, 'Pick 1,2, or 3, or something like that'," Braidwood said. "You don’t have to pick any of them if you don't want to. If you dont know or don't understand something, you can leave it blank. Everything else you voted for will still count."