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Buffalo mayoral race: when to expect election results

If the race is close, we might not know who wins on Tuesday night.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — With Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown doing a big write-in campaign, 2 On Your Side wanted to know whether the timing of election results would be different this year.

The Erie County Board of Elections says unless it's a blow out, we might not know who won the Buffalo mayoral race Tuesday night. It all depends on the write-in votes. They will be able to tell if Indian Walton or Byron Brown has a huge lead, but if it's close, the hand counting becomes all that more important. 

Here's how it'll work. 

Soon after polls close Tuesday night, we will get the early voting numbers around 9:15 or 9:30. That's normal.

Then, the rest of the results will start coming in from day-of voting.

On election night, the Board of Elections will be able to show people on its website how many people have filled in the oval for the write-in spot.

"You're going to be able to see how many have done that, and you're going to be able to see how many people are blank, void, and scattered, or under-voted for mayor as well, which could also be a write-in for mayor additionally that will probably count if it's done in the right column properly. So, it's a little confusing on the results, but the fact is if there's a blow out one way or another, we will have a good idea on election night. If it's close, we won't have a good idea on election night of who has won the race," says Erie County Board of Elections Commissioner Jeremy Zellner.

They will start hand counting the ballots November 15. That's when the military ballots have to be back by. They don't know how long that will take because that depends on whether people follow the write-in directions properly, and they haven't dealt with this type of situation before.

"When you have a write-in of this magnitude, it is not possible to get exact results on election night. You will be able to see how many votes were cast, how many of them were bubbled in for a write-in just like we've done with every race if there's ever been a write-in," says Zellner.

The Erie County Board of Elections met with the Walton and Brown campaigns last week to outline the process so they know what to expect, too.

The Board of Elections will be busy right up until they start that hand-count on November 15 counting the provisional ballots during that stretch. They have beefed up staffing, so they're ready to go knowing this year will be different from years past.

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