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What Voters Need to Know About Contested Elections

Adjudicating election disputes is complex, involving a web of local, state, and federal actors. But each entity plays a specific role according to defined rules. A clearer understanding of these roles and rules can help demystify the process. The summaries below outline the key responsibilities of (and constraints on) various actors at each step of the election process: from state legislatures, to candidates and parties, to the courts. Visit our State-by-State Guides for more details on the laws and procedures that govern elections in several critical states.
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Candidates and Parties
Candidates and/or parties have many opportunities to ensure the accuracy of the count. They have no legitimate grounds to claim they legally won once results showing they did not are final and all court cases are resolved.​

1. Candidates and/or parties can designate observers to watch important election processes, in accordance with state law.
2. Candidates in close elections can observe and/or request recounts in most states.
3. ​Candidates and parties can contest results in court.

Courts
Elections are conducted according to procedures set by law. Courts are the backstop candidates and officials call on to ensure the law is followed in resolving election disputes.

1. ​Courts can order election boards, canvass boards, and similar bodies to certify results if they refuse to do so.
2. Courts cannot hear (and must dismiss) challenges if the court lacks the authority to hear the case, if the plaintiff lacks the right to bring the case, or if there is insufficient evidence or legal basis to continue the case.
3. Courts can hear and decide challenges to the election results if there is sufficient evidence that the votes were not cast or counted according to law.

 
Results
Election laws alone determine when results are final.

1. ​Media projections have no bearing on the results.
2. Preliminary results reported by election administrators on election night are often partial and always unofficial. Results are not final or official until all votes have been counted and all steps and checks required by law to verify the results are complete.
3. Election laws and procedures differ significantly by state, including timelines for receiving and processing absentee and mail ballots. In some states, these ballots will not be fully counted in time for the close of the polls and will not be included in those first preliminary tallies, while in other states counting will be completed on Election Day and the tallies will be included in the preliminary count.
4. Whether a candidate concedes has no bearing on the results (though failing to do so can create risks). Likewise, a candidate unilaterally declaring victory is meaningless from a legal perspective.
5. A state’s election results become final when they are certified by the relevant entity (per state law), such as the Secretary of State or State Election Board.