Unofficial election results become available as early as 8pm on Election Night, but final results are not official until they are certified by the Secretary of State 20 days after the Election.

Where do Election Night numbers come from if results aren’t official yet?

Polls are open until 7pm on Election Day. Starting at 8pm that night, the Secretary of State and all 15 counties post unofficial results that update in real time as ballots are tabulated. The initial results reported are based on early in person and mail-in ballots received and verified by 5pm the Friday before Election Day when early in-person voting ends. County election workers put in a lot of hours to tabulate ballots as they are received from all the different voting locations.

Why does it take so long to get results?

Election workers are responsible for doing everything possible to ensure that every eligible voter is able to have their vote counted. In practice, that means:

• tabulating all ballots, including mail-in ballots that have been signature verified, election day ballots where eligibility verification was done in person using ID, and provisional ballots once a voter has proven their eligibility to vote

• contacting any voters whose mail-in ballots need cured because the signature on the envelope didn’t match

• helping voters cure their provisional ballots by verifying their eligibility to vote

The county election workers put in a lot of hours continuously tabulating ballots until they are done (the status of which can be seen here). Since the deadline for voters to cure their ballots is 5pm 5 days after the Election (Sunday, November 8 this year), the soonest all ballots can be tabulated is the following Monday - but given the volume of ballots cast across the state (3.4 million in the 2024 General Election), sometimes it takes a few days more.

If ballots are tabulated by the following week, why aren’t they official until 20 days after the Election?

Once the cure period ends, counties have 9 days to canvass and certify the election results. Per ARS 16-661, if the margin of victory in any race is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the total number of votes cast for that contest, then a recount is automatically required - which means all ballots cast within that jurisdiction must be tabulated again to verify the results. This can sometimes delay the canvass a few days, but the County Boards of Supervisors must certify the election no later than 16 days after the Election, which is November 19 this year.

Once counties certify their results, the Secretary of State compiles them in order to determine Statewide, Congressional, and State Legislative contest results, since those districts cross county lines.

The final election results for all of Arizona are made official when the Governor, Attorney General, and Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court witness the Secretary of State’s certification. That happens no later than 20 days after the election - which for 2026 is November 23.