At typical election night parties, a buzzing energy of anticipation fills the room as political campaigns and their supporters await results. Within hours after polls close, the voters’ choice usually becomes clear — and politicians quickly claim victory or concede defeat. But that won’t be the case for the majority of D.C. races in the June 16 primary, as the city introduces ranked choice voting for the first time.
“We won't know the winner on election night,” said Monica Evans, executive director of the D.C. Board of Elections (BOE), at a media briefing on Friday. Elections officials will now need to tabulate votes in rounds, including the tens of thousands of ballots received through the mail and drop boxes on the day of the election. “It is not possible to process that number on election night,” she said.
If no one receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and those voters’ next choices are distributed among the other candidates. This process repeats itself until a candidate hits the 50% threshold.
BOE officials predict that in-person voting on Election Day will take longer, since voters will be spending more time filling out their ballots — so they recommend voting early or returning mail-in ballots. Voters can mail their ballots back, drop them off at a designated ballot box, or cast ballots in-person at one of the District’s 25 early voting centers (open through June 14).
While critics worry that the new voting system will be confusing, the city and several non-profit groups have conducted outreach and education campaigns to prepare voters over the past few months. A study found that in the first year after New York City implemented ranked choice voting, voters largely understood the process (and nearly 90% ranked multiple candidates in the Democratic mayoral primary.)
Still, election night will look different than in years past. Here’s what we can expect after the polls close.
When will voters actually start seeing results come in?
The elections board says they’ll release interim, first-round results multiple times throughout the night of June 16. Once polls have closed, residents can go to the BOE’s website to see these first-ranked results — though officials aren’t promising an exact time.
After election day, the BOE aims to post round-by-round results by Sunday, June 21; again on Wednesday, June 24; and a final tabulation on or around Friday, June 26.
Why the days-long wait between updates? In a media briefing, Evans said “we want to ensure that we have the majority of ballots counted and tabulated” before publicly posting round-by-round results, so as not to put out inaccurate information. “Until we have all ballots on hand, you cannot rely on those rounds of tabulation,” she added.
But we could see final results earlier, Evans said, depending on the number of mail ballots received on or after Election Day.
(And while we will know the outcome long before, a winner isn’t officially declared by BOE until they certify the election, which is scheduled for July 17.)
When will ballots start to be counted?
After voting centers close at 8 p.m. and the last voters in line cast their ballots, D.C. BOE will begin processing and counting the votes cast at the polls, as well as any votes processed from early voting and mail ballots before Election Day.
As of June 10, over 30,000 mail ballots have been received, and more than 4,440 people have voted early (around 7 percent of registered voters).
Evans predicted that they’ll receive anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 mail ballots on Election Day alone. “The shift to mailing a ballot to every registered voter is really what has changed the expectation with having votes in hand and [the] process on election night,” she said.
When will the rest of mail ballots be counted?
Mail ballots must be postmarked by Friday, June 16 and received by BOE by June 26 in order to be counted. These ballots will be processed as they’re received, but tabulation doesn’t start until after polls close on Election Day, according to Sarah Graham, BOE’s director of communications.
Voters’ mail ballots go through a few steps before their vote gets counted. First, the barcode on the ballot gets scanned, which allows BOE to update a tracker so voters can confirm online that their ballot has been received. Then, every ballot has to be manually opened to start the signature verification process, before later going through a special scanner that tabulates the votes.
Will there still be election watch parties?
Yes, there will still be spots across the city where residents can gather to watch the interim election night results. Here are a few of the ones we know so far.
For the mayoral race, Janeese Lewis George is holding her election party at Shaw’s Howard Theatre, while Kenyan McDuffie will host his supporters at The Park at 14th in downtown D.C. Rini Sampath is having hers at Dacha Beer Garden (also in Shaw), and Gary Goodweather is having his watch party at West End’s Bar Angie.
In the congressional delegate race, Brooke Pinto will be with her supporters on the Eaton DC’s rooftop bar, Wild Days, and Robert White is hosting his watch party at Navy Yard’s The Point.
If you’re a Ward 1 voter, chances are there’s a campaign election party happening near you. Aparna Raj’s campaign is holding her election night party at Franklin Hall, Jackie Reyes Yanes tells The 51st that she’s hosting hers at Haydee’s Restaurant, Miguel Trindade Deramo plans to have his at Spark Social, and Rashida Brown is having her party at Ben's Next Door.
Of course, you don’t need to go to a party to watch the results come in. After the polls close, the BOE’s website will update with a link to the interim results. Grab a laptop and sit tight as the first round of votes start to come in — but remember, it’s going to take a little while before we really know who D.C. elected to lead the city.
Sam is a reporter with The 51st. She was a multimedia freelance journalist for a year before joining the team. Prior to that, she worked at Vox and More Perfect Union. Sam has covered a wide range of issues, from invasive vines to vaccines.
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