VERIFY: Election night Q&A

Election night has arrived and KGW’s VERIFY team continues to answer your questions.

*Editor's note: this story will be updated with additional questions and answers throughout the night. Check back for updates. 

Q: Why isn't the "Track Your Ballot" process open to all counties?
A: Voters in all Oregon counties can go to the oregonvotes.gov website and click the "My Vote" tab. The "My Vote" tab allows for voters to track their ballots, look up voting instructions and ballot drop-off sites, as well as check or update their registration.

Q: How do people in other counties get confirmation of signature match and reaching "counted" state?
A: Our source is Andrea Chiapella, the media contact for the Oregon Secretary of State's office.

She said, “The status of 'received' in MyVote means that the county elections office has received the ballot, but doesn’t designate if it has been accepted or not.”

This means that while ballots can be marked as received, they have not necessarily been verified and accepted into the vote count. If there are problems verifying signatures on the ballot return envelopes, voters will be notified by their county elections office and will have 14 days after Election Day to resolve any issues.

Q: I’m not sure if I signed my ballot- is there a way I can find out?
A: If you are already aware of a mistake or inconsistency relating to your ballot, contact your local county elections office as soon as possible.

Again, If someone did not sign their ballot or if there is a problem verifying a signature, the voter will hear directly from the county election office. They will have 14 days after the election to cure their ballot.

Q: Why is signature matching seemingly delayed until counting?
A: Our source Andrea Chiapella comments, “Signature matching starts when counties begin processing ballots which can start no sooner than 7 days before the election.”

Signature matching is not delayed until votes start to be counted by 8 p.m. tonight. Matching and confirming ballot signatures starts, at most, 7 days before Election Day today.

Q: Is statewide counting delayed until 8 p.m. election day?
A: Our source Andrea Chiapella from the Secretary of State’s Office says that statewide, “...counties do not tally votes until 8 p.m. which is why we always say initial results are available shortly after 8 p.m. We have election results posted for statewide and local contests at results.oregonvotes.gov.”

This means that results will start being reported after all ballots have been returned today by 8 p.m.

Q: Is it possible to win the electoral vote but lose a MASS majority of the popular vote?
A: It is possible for a presidential candidate to win the White House while losing the popular vote. That happened in 2016 when Donald Trump won 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227 despite losing the U.S. popular vote.

The mismatch between electoral and popular votes can happen when a candidate wins several significant large states, gaining their electoral votes while receiving a smaller share of the popular vote than their opponent.

538 electors are allocated (mainly by population) among the 50 states and Washington D.C. These electors ultimately choose the president and vice president, with a majority of electoral votes (at least 270) needed for a decisive win.

Whoever receives the most votes in a state wins all of its electoral votes, even if he or she got less than a majority of the popular vote, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska who award some of their electoral votes by congressional district.

It is also possible for electors to cast their ballots for someone other than the official nominee of the party to whom they have pledged to represent. The Pew Research Center reports that this occurred in record numbers in 2016 and there is a possibility it could happen again.

Do you have something you want us to Verify? Let us know. Email us at Verify@kgw.com