Majority want ballots counted within 24 hours polls closing: Poll

A majority of likely U.S. voters say that counting ballots should not take more than 24 hours after polls close, according to a recent survey.

The sentiment comes as elections in California have taken days and even a full week to determine which candidates advanced to the general election. Republican Steve Hilton, for instance, did not learn that he would face off against former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for the governor's mansion until a week after the polls closed.

Overall, 51% of likely voters said that 24 hours was enough time to count all of the ballots in the latest Rasmussen Reports survey. A further 19% said several days was sufficient, while 26% supported allowing the counting process to take as long as necessary.

Protracted counting processes have faced considerable scrutiny for decades, with the lengthy delays in counting Florida's ballots becoming the epicenter of a Supreme Court case to decide the presidency in the 2000 election.

During COVID-19, mail-in ballots surged in prominence and several states did not complete the process for days afterward. Those delays served as some of the basis for President Donald Trump's election fraud claims.

Conducted June 8-10, the survey questioned 1.062 likely U.S. voters and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3%.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.