What is the “Day of Canvass?”
The “Day of Canvass” is when the county board of elections compiles election results from all precincts and makes the official report of the outcome of the election within the county. The board meets at 11 a.m. on the 10th day after every election held on the same day as a general election in November of the even-numbered year, and at 11 a.m. on the seventh day after every other election, to complete the canvass of votes cast and authenticate the count in every ballot type in the county by determining that the votes have been counted correctly.
In most cases, the canvass meeting is held at the county board of elections office. Following the county canvass, the state board approves the official election results.
To conduct the canvass, the county board examines the returns from precincts, including:
- absentee official ballots,
- sample hand-to-eye paper ballot counts, and
- provisional ballots.