It happens every election cycle. You’re sitting there, staring at a map of the United States on a Tuesday night, expecting a definitive answer by midnight. Then midnight passes. Then Wednesday. Then Thursday. Pretty soon, the internet is screaming: Why is it taking so long to call the House? It feels like we can put a man on the moon or deliver a burrito via drone in twenty minutes, but we can't count pieces of paper in a timely fashion. Honestly, it’s frustrating. But the reality isn't usually some grand conspiracy or a breakdown of democracy. It’s actually a mix of boring math, very specific state laws, and the fact that humans are actually surprisingly meticulous when they know the entire country is watching them through a metaphorical magnifying glass.
Election Night isn't a deadline. It's just a start date.
The Razor-Thin Margin Problem
The House of Representatives has 435 seats. To control the chamber, a party needs 218. In recent years, the gap between the GOP and the Democrats has stayed incredibly narrow. When a race is decided by 10,000 votes, news networks like the Associated Press or NBC can call it pretty quickly based on exit polls and early returns. But when a race in California’s Central Valley or a district in suburban New York is separated by 400 votes, nobody is going to "call" that. Not yet.
Media outlets use sophisticated statistical models to project winners. They look at "expected vote" totals. However, if the margin of error in their model is larger than the lead one candidate has, they wait. It’s better to be late than wrong. Remember the 2000 election? That trauma still lives in the basements of every major newsroom. They would rather wait five days for 100% certainty than jump the gun and have to retract a projection.
California and the "Blue Shift" Phenomenon
If you want to know why is it taking so long to call the House, look at the West Coast. California alone has 52 congressional districts. Because of the state’s massive population and its specific voting laws, it’s often the "bottleneck" of the entire national count.
California allows ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days. Think about that. A voter could drop their ballot in a mailbox on Tuesday afternoon, and it might not even reach the registrar's office until Friday. Then, the signature has to be verified. Then it has to be processed. This isn't laziness; it's the law. In many "red" states, the rules are different—they might require all ballots to be in-hand by the time polls close. This creates a massive disparity in reporting speeds.
Then there is the "Blue Shift." Generally, Democrats are more likely to use mail-in ballots, while Republicans tend to show up more on the actual day of the election. This means the early tallies (the "in-person" votes) often look great for one side, but as the mail-in piles are opened over the following week, the lead shrinks or flips. It’s a statistical rollercoaster that drives everyone crazy, but it’s just the order of operations.
The Verification Nightmare
Let’s talk about "curing" ballots. It sounds like a medical term, but it’s actually a vital part of why the count drags on. If a voter forgets to sign their mail-in envelope, or if their signature looks like a scribble compared to their driver's license from ten years ago, the ballot is flagged. In many states, election officials are legally required to contact that voter and give them a chance to "cure" or fix the mistake.
This takes time. A lot of it.
Imagine an election worker trying to call a voter, leaving a voicemail, waiting for a call back, and then verifying a new signature. Multiply that by thousands of ballots across a dozen swing districts. It’s a slow, manual process. You also have provisional ballots. These are cast by people whose eligibility was questioned at the polling place—maybe they moved and didn't update their address, or their name wasn't on the roll. These ballots are kept separate until the voter's eligibility is confirmed. Only then are they opened and counted.
Why the Networks Wait
You might see a candidate "leading" by 3 points with 95% of the vote in. You think, Come on, just call it! But that remaining 5% matters immensely. If that 5% is coming from a specific precinct that historically votes 90% for the trailing candidate, the math hasn't "crossed the line" yet.
The Associated Press, which is the gold standard for calling races, doesn't use "projections." They only call a race when they determine there is no mathematical path for the trailing candidate to catch up. They look at:
- Historical voting patterns of the specific precincts left to report.
- The "overvote" and "undervote" (people who voted for President but skipped the House race).
- Registration data for the remaining uncounted ballots.
Redistricting and the Complexity of Local Lines
Every ten years, House lines are redrawn. Sometimes, these lines are so convoluted that even the people living there aren't 100% sure which district they're in until they see the ballot. In 2026, we are seeing the effects of aggressive gerrymandering and legal challenges to maps that have landed in the Supreme Court. When a map is changed shortly before an election, it can lead to confusion at polling places, more provisional ballots, and a slower verification process at the backend.
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In some states like Alaska or Maine, they use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). This is a huge factor in why is it taking so long to call the House. If no candidate gets over 50% in the first round, they have to do an "instant runoff." They eliminate the bottom candidate and redistribute those votes to the voters' second choices. This process usually can’t even start until every single last ballot—including those from overseas military members—is accounted for. You literally cannot do the math until the pile is complete.
The Human Element
At the end of the day, the people counting the votes are often volunteers or low-paid temporary workers. They are exhausted. They are working under intense scrutiny, sometimes with partisan observers breathing down their necks. They have to deal with paper jams, software glitches, and the physical reality of moving thousands of boxes of paper.
We live in a world of instant gratification. We want the score of the game the second the whistle blows. But democracy is more like a slow-cooked meal. If you pull it out of the oven too early, it's raw. If you rush a House call, you risk undermining public trust in the entire system.
What to Look For in the Coming Days
If you’re still waiting on a call, stop looking at the "percentage of precincts reporting." That number is often misleading because it doesn't account for the volume of mail-in ballots. Instead, look for the "estimated votes remaining."
Check the specific laws of the state in question. Is it an "all-mail" state like Oregon or Washington? Expect a week. Is it a state that allows signature curing? Expect ten days.
Actionable Steps for Following a Slow Count:
- Follow the Secretary of State websites directly. News networks are great, but the raw data comes from the state's official portal first.
- Look at the "Drop" schedules. Many counties (like Maricopa in Arizona or Clark in Nevada) announce exactly when they will release their next batch of data (usually late afternoon or evening).
- Ignore the "Winner" declarations on social media. Candidates often declare victory early to set a narrative. Until the AP or a major network "Decision Desk" confirms it, it’s just noise.
- Understand the "Canvass." Even after the news calls a race, the results aren't official until the "canvass" is complete weeks later, where every single tally is audited and certified by local boards.
The delay isn't a sign that the system is broken. In a weird, counter-intuitive way, the delay is a sign that the safeguards are working. Every vote is being treated as a legal document that requires verification. It’s slow, it’s annoying, and it makes for terrible TV—but it’s how the math of the House actually works. Wait for the data to catch up to the drama.