“Dancing with the Stars” tv show counts and finalizes millions of votes within a few minutes to under an hour after voting closes.
While the online vote is tallied immediately, production typically uses a commercial break to calculate the final combined score of viewer votes and judges’ scores.——Reddit·r/dancingwiththestars
Generally, votes are cast during the live show and for a brief period shortly after the final competitive dance. Because the show utilizes online and text-based voting (with high-speed digital counting), the results are tabulated very fast, sometimes before the final commercial break.
ABC’s Standards and Practices department verifies the fan votes and judge scores before the live announcement. The final vote percentage is combined with the judges’ score percentage to determine who is eliminated.——— ABC Network
The Season 34 finale of Dancing with the Stars (Nov. 25, 2025) saw a record-breaking 72 million votes. This was more than double the previous year’s finale and represented the highest vote count in the show’s history. Throughout the entire 2025 season, over half a billion total votes were cast. -—— Variety