Virginia's total might not be over by tomorrow night...

[acroyear70]

McCain sues to force Va. to count military ballots:RICHMOND, Va. - John McCain's campaign sued Virginia's electoral board Monday, hours before the election, seeking to force the state to count late-arriving overseas military ballots

Comments

[capi]

A *lot* of people use mail-in (absentee) ballots these days, too. I hope they don't just forget about us! We try to get those in early, but you gotta wait til those are in!

[acroyear70]

Well, there are deadlines (different for each state). VA is one where they aren't supposed to wait, that they have to have arrived by today (fedex and ups accepted). the issue is that the military act McCain is citing says they're supposed to get 45 days, and VA was late about it.

Some states do have grace periods but they keep tight track of how many they're supposed to receive (most states do that) and won't count them if they don't need to because there is already a winner.

Do note that just because an absentee ballot isn't needed to be counted for the Presidential race doesn't mean it wouldn't need to be counted for close races in congressional, state, local elections, and referendums.