[New York = E-Daily Seong Joowon Correspondent] Unlike South Korea, where vote counting begins only after voting has ended, some regions in the United States use machines to scan and record marked ballots even while voting is still underway. However, the tally by candidate is not released until after voting has concluded. Since the timing for processing mail-in ballots and the deadline for accepting them vary by state, there are regions that continue to count ballots that arrived legally even after Election Day has passed.
In New York, voters insert their marked paper ballots directly into scanners at polling stations. The equipment electronically records the marked votes, and the original paper ballots are retained.

According to New York City’s official voting guidelines on the 3rd (local time), scanners are used to record voters’ ballots and to tally all ballots after voting closes. New York State election law also stipulates that the equipment must be sealed after voting closes, and the tally results must be printed, posted, or announced. This structure separates the reading and recording of ballots during voting from the release of results after voting closes.
Therefore, scanning a ballot refers to the process of reading a ballot that has already been marked. If an equipment malfunction occurs, the ballots are stored in an emergency container and then scanned or tallied manually after voting closes.
The processing procedure for mail-in ballots is more complex. The tasks of verifying voter information and signatures on the envelope, opening the envelope to retrieve the ballot, and reading the mark and tallying the results must be kept separate. The fact that some preparatory work is permitted before the election does not mean that the vote counts for each candidate are disclosed in advance.
In Pennsylvania, mail-in ballot envelopes cannot be opened and tabulation preparations cannot begin until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day. Results will not be released until after 8:00 p.m., when voting ends. State officials explained that because they must operate in-person voting on Election Day while also processing mail-in ballots, the final tally may take some time.
The deadlines for ballot arrival also differ. In Pennsylvania, regular mail-in ballots must arrive by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. In contrast, California is accepting mail-in ballots for this election that are postmarked by November 3 and arrive by November 10. Since some ballots are still being legally accepted even after Election Day, the tabulation process continues.
Because of these differences, the results announced first do not necessarily reflect the overall choice of all voters. If voter preferences for each candidate differ between in-person and mail-in ballots, the frontrunner may change depending on the order in which the votes are tallied.
Results announced on election night must also be distinguished from the final, confirmed results. Official results are finalized only after processing remaining mail-in ballots and provisional ballots—which require voter eligibility verification—and after cross-checking and validation. It is important to consider both state-specific vote-counting regulations and the processing schedules based on the type of ballot.