[oblomov]

So do they, or do they not, count absentee ballots in states where the margin of victory is greater than the number of absentee ballots?

[funfan]

I don’t think they do. I beleive California passed a law that
stated they would count them but who knows.

[Az Joe]

They count each legal vote as far as can be ascertained. No matter the state tally.

CA itself has 4 million more ballots to count as of this morning.

[Az Joe]

OK, spoke too soon. They may not count all votes if the votes wont make a difference in a state. Not sure yet.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

It's an urban myth that absentee ballots aren't counted "by a State" if they won't affect the results of a Presidential race. States don't count ballots. Counties do. And no ballots just have "Choose a President" at the top and nothing else. Ballots include choices for Congress, US Senate, State House, State Senate, Governors, statewide propositions, County Commissioners, Board of Regents (here in CO), County Clerk & Assessor & DA & Surveyor & Coroner, City & County & neighborhood bond issues and other local propositions, school district taxes & spending, and on and on. Any County or City with an average number of absentee ballots is going to have AT LEAST one candidate race or ballot issue that is close enough to have the current result flipped by the absentee ballots, so to not count them all and find out who really won would be a clear violation of the law.

I think what people are confusing here, is the fact that when a State chooses to report who won the State at the Presidential level (or Senate, House, etc), they will report it as soon as they know that the total size of the pile of unprocessed absentee ballots is not enough to change the result of the Presidential winner. That doesn't mean they no longer plan to count those ballots. No way! They *have* to count them, or they could overturn the will of the voters in, say, Pork Corners KS, on the almost-deadlocked vote to Recall the town's dog-catcher.

[Ancesthntr]

They don’t.

It should be required, because as things stand, the absentee voters are disenfranchised. They are just absentees, not voters.