Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Election Day has come and gone, and most of the notable local races in Western New York and New York State have already been determined.
Meanwhile, the most notable race this election year is the one for the White House in Washington, D.C. between Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, and Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. While no formal announcement has been made regarding the Presidential Election, Trump took to the stage in the early morning hours on Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla. to declare victory.
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How long could it be before the people of the United States officially know who their next president will be, though?
"They say it may be a day or two to get some of the key battleground states," said Erie County Democratic Chair Jeremy Zellner.
"I think it could be a day, could be two days, unless we have a wave moment [Tuesday] evening, and then we could have a very, very quick answer."
Democratic delegate and Buffalo Common Councilman Mitch Nowakowski knows that in the past three election cycles, a number of states have come really close, leading to some delayed results in the election.
"We saw the State of Georgia come down to less of a percent, and when you get into those areas, recounts happen, you have election inspectors coming out. In certain states, you might not see this play out for a couple of days," said Nowakowski in an interview with WBEN. "In 2020, we saw Election Night happen on Tuesday, and we saw Biden claim the presidency on a Saturday. I certainly hope it doesn't happen that long, because I think the longer that it waits, it builds anxiety and it builds mistrust. So I think it's hyper critical for local officials and election officials across the county and the country to make sure they're tabulating those votes quickly, accurately and then transparently, showing the voters where they lie."
While Nowakowski expressed some concern with the potential of delayed results casting additional doubt on the election process, Zellner was not so concerned.
"I think what you're seeing is what we do every year. We count every vote, every Election Night, we say these are unofficial results and we're going to count every vote. And you may have some close races here locally that every vote is going to matter, because it's going to be so close," Zellner said.
Zellner adds some battleground states have kicked things up a notch in the electoral process since four years ago, where they are processing ballots ahead of time just like what New York State is doing.
"They can just hit a button and get the results at 9 o'clock. Some of them haven't. Some of them may take two or three days before everything is counted. But we have to get those people overseas, serving our country and the military's ballots back. They're very important people. They may want to have their voices heard as well, and we can't just stop and cut off because people want quick results," Zellner explained.
Nowakowski believes that people start getting anxious with a delay in voting results by Thursday or Friday. It's something he hopes can be cleaned up, but knows it's a sign of the changing times in the electoral process.
"Life is complex, and everyone wants something down into two seconds. But the way we vote now is not how we voted decades ago. We have early voting, we have mail-in voting, we have same day voting of registration. We're starting to see the electoral process in voting become more inclusive to make sure that everyone has the ability to vote," Nowakowski said. "So to tabulate all that and to cross reference, and to make sure of the validity of all of our votes does take time."
So what is it about New York State's voting process that other states can, perhaps, learn and take a page from their playbook going forward? Zellner feels it starts with having a bipartisan board, which is the model for the country.
"There's people on each side looking out after everything. There's nothing that can be done that isn't done by a Republican and a Democrat. So both sides are watching every step of the way, and they have to start the process earlier in those states if they're going to be able to get the results moving a little quicker," he explained. "Here, we used to be able to wait 10 days to start counting the absentees in New York State. Now, we have those things processed daily. It's in the state law."
As for Nowakowski, it comes down to three elements.
"First, we have great county election officials, the second is timelines of when ballots have to come in to be tabulated, and also the rules and policies that govern it," he said. "You could go down to the Board of Elections when mail-in ballots here happen, and they're opened, they're looked at election inspectors, and then they're right in a machine getting tabulated quickly. We have policies and procedures that make it very stringent on making this in a timely manner, and thus those votes getting tabulated quickly, thus people feeling good, transparent and comfortable with our electoral process."
WBEN will keep you up to date with the latest developments surrounding the results of the 2024 Presidential Election.