Want election results? On West Coast, patience is required

If control of the U.S. House comes down to any of the competitive congressional races in Washington state and California, the nation might have to wait days to learn the outcome.

In both of those states, voters can put their ballots in the mail as late as Election Day, meaning the final votes do not typically reach election officials until several days later.

“I could see a scenario where we’re waiting a week or so to get results,” said Todd Donovan, a political science professor at Western Washington University. “The unfortunate thing is, you take longer and people are going to think something wrong is going on, when in fact, when you take longer, you’re more likely to have more accurate results.”