While the presidential election of 2020 is almost a year behind us now, there are still people in Republican red states, who are saying they want vote recounts in certain states, such as Pennsylvania. Can you believe it, after all this time? Are you kidding me? Joe Biden’s been the president for six months now. Trump and all your cronies, get over it. You lost the election.
But civically speaking, all these months after an election, legally, can people still ask for vote recounts? It appears they can.
The question is, how long can vote-counting go on?
Predictions for the drawn-out aftermath of the U.S. election appeared to come true in a few key states in the 2020 Presidential election. Mind you, it all played out between November and the end of December for the most part, (except for Georgia).
As for legal challenges, it’s unclear exactly how long those could go on, but James Gardner, an expert in election law at the University at Buffalo, said courts were under pressure to conclude legal proceedings before the safe harbor date, which was January 6, 2021. That January 6, 2021 date seems to have meant nothing to those who are still crying the blues over the election results of November 2020.
As recently as June 3, 2021, a Republican from Philadelphia was still saying on MS- NBC that a move is underway to try and get another recount of votes out of Philadelphia, if not out of all of Pennsylvania. We shall see.
An election recount is a process by which the votes cast in an election are re-tabulated to verify the accuracy of the original results. Recounts typically occur in the event of a close margin of victory, following accusations of election fraud, or due to the possibility of administrative errors. Recounts can either occur automatically or be requested by a candidate or voters. Across the 50 states, 20 states have a statutory provision allowing for automatic recounts, and 43 states have a statutory pro-vision allowing for requested recounts.
Recounts can happen in races at any level, from local offices up to presidential elections. In the case of presidential elections, however, recounts are carried out at the state level rather than nationally.
To the Republicans who dream of another recount for Philadelphia or maybe even for the state of PA, I say don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen. You just might turn blue, and Lord knows, you don’t want that to happen.
