The process of counting votes and certifying election results differs from state to state. Official vote counts can last anywhere from one day to one month after Election Day, depending on state law. Each state also decides how and when to count its in-person and mail-in ballots. This patchwork of state policies can potentially lead to some confusing days if an election is particularly close. 

USAFacts sorted voting procedures into several maps so you can make sense of how your state counts votes ahead of the midterm elections. 

• Ten states and Washington, DC, do not allow officials to process mail-in ballots until Election Day. In some states, early voting ballots are counted before Election Day. In others, they’re counted with Election Day ballots.

• Election officials can start counting in-person ballots after polls close on Election Day. Paper ballots are sealed and delivered to a vote-counting center. If ballots are on digital voting machines, election officials send the data to the counting center electronically or by hand. Then officials can start processing the results.
   
• Twenty-eight states use signature matching to confirm a voter’s identity. To do this, election officials compare the voter’s ballot signature to the signature on their voter registration form. Ballots without matching signatures are set aside until voters can prove their identity.
   
• Voters cast more than 1.3 million provisional ballots in 2020. About 78% of provisional ballots were accepted. The primary reason for being rejected? The voter was not registered in the state.

How do provisional ballots work? Get the explanation in this article.


America and the pandemic in census data

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) is the most comprehensive yearly survey about the US population and more. Agencies use it to distribute $675 billion annually, from allocating school lunch funds to planning emergency service coverage. 

ACS response rates were so low in 2020 that the Bureau withheld the results rather than publish unreliable data. As a result, the 2021 data released last month is the first edition of the survey with information on how the American economy and society have fared since the start of the pandemic.

• The percentage of people working from home more than tripled from 2019 to 2021, but this change affected states differently. Washington and Maryland had the highest rate of labor forces working from home most days: 24%. Mississippi had the lowest, at 6.3%. 
   
• 2020 had the nation’s highest single-year increase in average home prices since 1992. Vacancy rates, or the percentage of units on the market, have been dropping for years, and 2019 to 2021 was no exception. Idaho, New Hampshire, and Utah had the lowest homeowner vacancy rates nationwide.
   
• In 2019, the percentage of renters spending at least 35% of their gross income on rent and utilities dipped below 40% for the first time in a decade. In 2021, it reached 42%.

There’s much more to explore, including how the population ages 65 and older grew compared to the 85+ population.  


USAFacts + Code for America come together for GetCTC

Code for America is a civic nonprofit founded in 2009 to use tech to improve our nation’s governments. Code for America launched GetCTC to ensure all eligible tax filers receive the expanded Child Tax Credit benefits, particularly eligible families with low or no incomes. USAFacts is partnering with the nonprofit to spotlight GetCTC and help as many people claim the Child Tax Credit as possible. Here’s the background on this credit:

• Historically, the Child Tax Credit has mostly benefited high- and middle-income families. According to 2019 data, families in the top 40% of income earners received an average payment of $3,951. Families in the bottom 20% received an average of $760. Lower-income families are the least likely to claim the credit, with 3% of families in the lowest 20% of income earners doing so.   

• The Child Tax Credit changed under both the Trump and Biden administrations. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act increased the refund cap to $1,400 per family and the credit per child from $1,000 to $2,000. The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act temporarily increased the refund to $3,000–$3,600 per child. It also made the tax credit fully refundable, so if the credit exceeds the amount a family owes in taxes, it can still receive the difference as a refund.  
   
• Census Bureau data showed that the child tax credit helped reduce child poverty by 46% between 2020 and 2021 — a historic low.

Code for America built GetCTC in collaboration with the White House and the Treasury Department. GetCTC is free and available in both English and Spanish. 

People can still claim the expanded child tax credit. GetCTC is open to the public until November 15.

Disclaimer: USAFacts received no payment from Code for America and will never earn money from advertising. 

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