White House Press Secretary Karine Jeane-Pierre said delays in election results were “how this is supposed to work” during a Monday press conference.
One reporter asked Jean-Pierre during the briefing if President Biden planned on addressing election results on Election Day or the following Wednesday. Jean-Pierre said the President was expected to publicly address the election the following day though did not have further details.
“It took two-weeks to call every state,” Jean-Pierre said in reference to the 2020 Presidential election before reiterating previous remarks from Biden. “In modern elections, more and more ballots are being cast in early-voting and also by mail. And many states don’t start counting those ballots until after the polls close on Nov. 8.”
The Press Secretary echoed Biden’s Wednesday speech in Union Station in Washington D.C. in which the President preemptively said Americans must be “patient” about receiving election results.
“We may not know all the winners of elections for a few days,” she said. “It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner. That’s how this is supposed to work.”
Karine Jean-Pierre: "We may not know all the winners of elections for a few days." pic.twitter.com/vkJxraqzZ0
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 7, 2022
“It’s important for us to all be patient while votes are being counted,” Jean-Pierre continued. “I think it’s important to just remind folks that’s something that people should be mindful of as well.”
“We know that more and more ballots are cast in early voting or by mail in America,” said Biden during his Wednesday speech. “And we know that many states don’t start counting those ballots until after the polls close on November 8. That means, in some cases, we won’t know the winner of the election for a few days — until after a few days after the election.”
Biden doubled down against critics of mail-in ballots and delays in election results suggesting they were trying to “suppress the rights of voters.”
“The extreme MAGA element of the Republican Party — which is a minority of that party, as I said earlier, but is its driving force — is trying to succeed where they failed in 2020 to suppress the rights of voters and subvert the electoral system itself,” the President said of his political opponents. “That means denying your right to vote and deciding whether your vote even counts. Instead of waiting until an election is over, they’re starting well before it. They are starting now. They’ve emboldened violence and intimidation of voters and election officials.”
Mail-in votes, employed en masse during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, were highly criticized during the 2020 Presidential election as critics claimed a lack of transparency with delays in tallying results. Other critics pointed towards an apparent lack of security regarding the ballot’s chain of custody while supporters of mail-in ballots denounced critics as seeking to “suppress” votes.
Florida, previously criticized for inconsistencies during the 2000 Presidential election, was lauded in 2020 for it’s efficiency tabulating ballots, which allowed them to provide results within hours on Election Night. WPTV political analyst Brian Crowley appeared to suggest efficiency in vote tabulation ensured confidence in election results.
“When you look at what’s going on in some of the other states right now, where there is uncertainty, at least Floridians can put their heads on their pillow and know Florida got it right this time,” said Crowley of Florida following the 2020 Presidential election.
