Here’s when your state will finalize its election results
Each state has its own election certification deadline that is generally fixed by state law.
- Five states have certification deadlines within one week of the election. Delaware’s is the earliest: Nov. 10.
- In 14 states, the certification deadlines fall between two and three weeks after the election (Nov. 23-29).
- More than half of the U.S. population lives in states with certification deadlines more than three weeks after the election.
- Five states—Hawaii, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee—do not have fixed certification deadlines.
State legislative competitiveness reaches a decade-high
Ballotpedia’s Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report found a decade-high level of competition in the 6,278 state legislative elections taking place this year.
The report found that the overall rise in competitiveness is due to incumbents facing more primary challenges and the presence of more open seat elections. At the same time, there was a decline in head-to-head matchups between Republican and Democratic candidates in the general election.
Presenting our annual report on initiative petition signature costs
Ballot initiative campaigns spent $118 million to collect signatures for 29 initiatives this year. This equals $12.70 for every signature required to place an initiative on the ballot, up from $8.09 in 2020, $6.52 in 2018, and $6.93 in 2016. Campaigns spend money on hiring signature-gathering companies, recruiting and organizing unpaid volunteers, and more.
Most state legislative primary defeats in over a decade
A total of 229 legislators—4.7% of those who ran for re-election—lost in primary elections this year, up 46% compared to 2020. This is both the highest number and percentage of incumbent defeats since 2010. We put together a page cataloging each defeat: who won, who lost, and margin of defeat.