BALLOTS

A legal saga over mail-in ballots that arrive on time but in envelopes that are missing dates handwritten by voters could determine midterm results in the key swing state.

Workers are opening vote by mail ballots Monday, counting and tabulating votes.

Election day in California, final scenes from the recall campaign trail, and special elections from Boston to Des Moines.

The Republican Party of Pennsylvania asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to halt an ongoing count of mail-in ballots received in that state after Election Day, a move that came hours after Democratic nominee Joe Biden overtook President Donald Trump in the vote tally there. The party also asked the Supreme Court to order the Pennsylvania secretary of state to log and segregate those ballots, but to take no other action, including counting them, for now. The GOP already was seeking to overturn an order by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that extended the normal 8 p.m. Hours later Friday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ordered Pennsylvania's county elections boards to segregate all ballots received by mail after 8 p.m. Tuesday and to count them separately from other ballots. Alito's order essentially mandates guidance issued in the past two weeks by state Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar to the counties calling for them to segregate the ballots received after Election Day.

But mail ballots generally require more time to process than ballots that are cast in person. DIFFERENT STATES, DIFFERENT APPROACHESSome states with extensive experience in using mail-in ballots have adjusted for those extra steps. For example, mail-in ballots from Nevada voters are not due until Nov. 10 if postmarked by Election Day. In North Carolina, mail-in ballots are not due until Nov. 12 if postmarked by Election Day. While it's unlikely the election outcome will be known Tuesday night, results from two states could signal which way it's headed.

Many people in Florida opted in for early voting, possibly to skip the long lines on primary day or for a whole slew of other reasons. But what are you supposed to do if you voted early for a candidate who has already dropped out -- before Florida’s primary on March 17? And anyone who votes for that person will have his or her vote count -- as in, a vote for that candidate. Many states follow this same rule, but there are a few places that will let you have a re-do if your candidate dropped out before the primary. As you can see from this primary alone, many candidates drop out right before or directly after the juggernaut primary day.

These are the types of voting ballots and equipment used throughout the country, according to Ballotpedia:• Optical Scan Paper Ballot Systems: Voters mark their votes by filling in an oval, box, or similar shape on a paper ballot. Paper ballots are later scanned either at the polling place or at a central location. • Ballot Marking Devices and Systems: These systems are designed to help disabled voters who might be unable to vote using other methods. Rather than recording the vote into the computer’s memory, the ballot is instead marked on paper and later tabulated manually. • Punch Card Voting Systems: These devices employ a paper card and a small clipboard device.