CINCINNATI – Millions of voters in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana cast their ballots early this election cycle, with experts also expecting a huge turnout on Tuesday. But there’s still one big unanswered question: When will we know the results for the state and national races?

The short answer is that it depends on the state and what the state’s election law allows.

“We’re anticipating a pretty high turnout, between 70-74 percent,” said Alex Linser, deputy director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

In both Kentucky and Indiana, election workers are allowed to begin processing ballots before Election Day and can count them before the polls close. That allows for less log jam on Tuesday night.

But at Ohio State, it’s a little different. right National Conference of State Legislatureselection officials can process ballots as they come in, but cannot count them until the polls close on Tuesday. Once the early absentee and mail-in ballots have been counted, polling day will be tabulated.

“We have to get all the equipment back from the polling places from Election Day,” Linser said. “This process, it just takes time … the cars are not connected to the internet, so they have to be physically returned to our building. . And so, we wait to receive them. But usually at 9:30-10 p.m., they start coming in and we take the units out of those machines and count those votes.”

For national races, you’ll probably have to wait for some of the battleground states. Polls close in Pennsylvania and 15 other states at 8 p.m. At 9 p.m., voting closes in Arizona, Wisconsin and other states. For states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, election officials can’t count absentee ballots until in-person voting begins on Election Day. This may cause delays.

In 2020, President Biden was not projected as the winner in Pennsylvania until Saturday morning. But that election saw more mail-in voting because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2016 election was called for Donald Trump around 2:30 a.m. after the Wisconsin votes were counted.

Both Democrats and Republicans WCPO spoke with are cautiously optimistic.

“I think like any Democrat, I believe in this process and I want to protect this process — this is democracy in action,” Jay Shatz said.

“You can tell there’s a little bit of tension, but I feel like, for the most part, voters know, voters are getting out and voting on the issues that are important to them,” said Republican Wesley Mitchell.

In Ohio, on Election Day, you must cast your ballot at your polling place at your designated polling place between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. If you do not know where your designated polling station or polling place is, please get in touch the electoral council of the county or click here to search for your polling station online.

Polls are open in Kentucky from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time. If you are in line at 6pm, you will be allowed to vote. You can find your polling station Here.

In Indiana, polls are open from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM (local time). You can find the polling station on www.IndianaVoters.com by clicking “Find my polling place”.