LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — When the polls in Lucas County close on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the waiting game officially begins for that magic number - 100 percent precincts reported.
The goal for poll workers all across the county is to get ballots from their precincts to downtown where the votes are tallied.
But votes cast on election day don't arrive downtown at the same time.
A polling place in Whitehouse, for instance, is farther away from downtown then a location in central Toledo and it's votes could potentially take much longer to arrive at the Board of Elections.
Votes from a precinct in central Toledo have a much shorter distance to travel.
Precinct size is another factor.
A large precinct location like Bowsher High School can potentially take much longer to break down as poll workers on site work to make sure the votes tallied on their machines match the number of signatures they got throughout the day.
Smaller polling places have less voters and might easily be counted before larger locations.
Once poll workers get to downtown, ballots will be tallied, and eventually the number of precincts reporting will makes its way to 100 percent.
But that doesn't mean the election is over.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose says thousands of absentee ballots will be counted as they trickle into a Board of Elections.
So a final tally across the county and state might not be determined well into November.
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