According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a canvass refers to the “compilation of election returns and validation of the outcome [of the election] that forms the basis of the official results by political subdivision.” In lay terms, the canvass is the counting of election returns at the local or state level.
State law usually defines in statute when the canvass must be completed.
Local canvass dates range from the day after the election in Alaska to 28 days after the election for presidential electors or 30 days after the election for all other offices in California.
State canvass dates range from the Friday after the election in Oklahoma, as long as no contest has been filed, to the second Tuesday in December in Missouri for offices other than presidential electors.
This table provides the statutory rule that determines local and state canvass dates for general elections only. Canvass deadlines may be different for primary or special elections. Some states have different deadlines for certifying presidential electors than other offices, as in the California example above. When that is the case, the table notes the difference.
In any given year, the calendar date can shift based on weekends and holidays. For the calendar date, please see each state’s website.
County/Local Deadlines
Counties must canvass results within one week after election day in 15 states: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming. In Pennsylvania, these results are unofficial and are not made official until 10 days after the election, in order to permit for requests for recounts or other challenges to the results to be filed.
Counties must certify results either during or no later than the second week following election day in 21 states: Alabama, Arkansas (presidential electors only), Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Both Maryland and Montana permit the canvass deadline to be pushed back if the canvass is not complete by the specified date.
Counties must certify results either during or no later than the third week following election day in nine states: Arizona, Arkansas (all other offices), Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington.
Counties in five states must certify results to the state either during or no later than the fourth week following election day or later: California, Colorado, Oregon, New York and West Virginia.
Rhode Island does not specify dates for completing the canvass in its statutes.
State Deadlines
Twenty-three states have statutory language such as “not later than,” “by,” “before” or “within” that specifies the deadline by which state canvasses and/or certifications must be completed: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Kansas has a similarly worded provision for the deadline by which the state canvass must be initiated.
Massachusetts has a provision specifying the date by which the state canvass must be completed for presidential electors only.
Nineteen states have statutory language specifying the date on which a canvass is to be completed: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Vermont has a similarly worded provision for the deadline by which the state canvass must be initiated.
In the remaining six states, the language regarding the completion of the state canvass/certification is vague, open to interpretation, or not specified: Delaware, Massachusetts (all other offices), Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and West Virginia.