When election results are announced, citizens will experience a mix of emotions from anticipation to disappointment. Some may even believe there are underlying reasons for their preferred candidate’s loss, which can lead to conspiracy theories and other forms of disinformation that can create emotional stress. To combat this, it’s important to check in with credible information sources and avoid uninformed outlets such as TikTok, Facebook or X (see our infographic).
According to data from the 2012-2020 ANES survey, people who are disappointed by their candidate’s loss are less likely to think elections are conducted fairly than those who were surprised by their favorite’s victory. This gap is larger among losers than winners, but the difference is not a result of partisan differences in perceptions of electoral integrity; rather, it appears to be a result of the fact that, when a surprise happens, people have higher expectations of what their election should look like.
After the results are reported on election night, there is a process known as a canvass that takes place in every state and county to make sure that all valid ballots were counted. This includes a review of mail-in and provisional ballots. It also includes a review of all of the votes that were counted to make sure that there are no clerical errors or other irregularities that could influence the results. Only once this process is complete will the official results be certified. If there is a close race, then the trailing candidate can request a recount. This can either be a manual hand recount in which each ballot is examined by election officials and representatives of both candidates or a machine recount that tracks all counted and cast-but-yet-to-be-counted ballots.