Midterm elections 2022: Where votes remain to be counted and how long it will take
While the 2022 midterm voting ended Tuesday night , the public awaits results from ongoing counts that could determine the balance of power in Congress' upper and lower chambers -- outcomes that will either aid or seriously limit the Biden administration's agenda.
After Republican Sen. Ron Johnson was projected as the winner of his reelection bid in Wisconsin and Georgia was projected to be a runoff election between Herschel Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock on Wednesday, only Senate races in Arizona and Nevada remain to be projected.
A fifth race, in Alaska, also has not been projected but features two leading Republican candidates -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Kelly Tshibaka -- running against each other, meaning it won't affect the balance of power. The state is moving to ranked-choice voting to determine its winner because no candidate got 50% in the first round.
Senate Republicans have largely avoided declarations on their chances of taking control of the currently 50-50 chamber. When asked by ABC News about the future of his delegation on Wednesday morning, current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "I don't deal in feelings. The question is, they've got to count the votes and then we'll figure out where we are."
Likewise, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has only commented briefly, after midnight on Wednesday, but projected confidence.
Here's where outstanding votes remain in potentially decisive Senate races -- and how long the counting is likely to take -- as well as a look at the uncertainty in the House.
Nevada Senate
With around 88% of the expected vote reporting as of Friday, Republican Adam Laxalt holds a 9,000 vote lead over incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
Nevada has given counties until Saturday to receive mail ballots that were postmarked by Election Day, and the state's elections officials have said that it could take a few days following the election to announce unofficial results. Counties have until Nov. 18 to certify results.
In 2020, it took three days for the state to report 100% of the vote.
"We do not have a count on outstanding votes at this time. All active registered voters in Nevada were mailed a ballot. Some surrendered them to vote in person, some threw them away," Nevada Secretary of State spokesperson Jennifer Russell said Wednesday.
In Clark County -- Nevada's most populous, home to some 70% of the state's electorate -- Registrar Joe Gloria said at a Friday afternoon news conference that that there are 50,030 mail ballots that still need to be counted. He said he expects the majority of ballots to be tabulated by Saturday night, though they are on the tail end of the counting process. Earlier this week, Gloria said he estimated it could be next Thursday before the county gives unofficial count totals.
"We're getting to the tail end of what we need to do," he said. "The tabulation team stays pretty consistent because that's the fastest of all the groups. They can read, if they have to, about 1,000 ballots an hour," Gloria said Friday.
On Thursday, former President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account about his frustration with the vote counting in Clark County.
"Clark County, Nevada, has a corrupt voting system (be careful Adam!), as do many places in our soon to be Third World Country. Arizona even said 'by the end of the week!' -- They want more time to cheat! Kari Lake MUST win!" Trump wrote.
Officials at Clark County responded, saying they could not speed up the counting process "even if they wanted to."
"We have heard his outrageous claims, but he is obviously still misinformed about the law and our election processes that ensure the integrity of elections in Clark County," officials said in a statement, noting the Nov. 12 deadline for mail-in ballots allowed to be received under state law.
"In addition, there are provisional ballots to process, and we will not be able to complete that task until we receive reports from the Nevada Secretary of State's Office on Wednesday, Nov. 16. This process ensures that individuals do not vote twice in Nevada. All of our election systems are certified by the state and federal governments for use in the State of Nevada, and there are several state required audits done before, during, and after each election, which further ensure the reliability and integrity of the election."
Washoe County, which encompasses Reno, has also reported thousands of ballots that have not yet been counted.
Arizona Senate
With about 80% of the expected vote reporting in as of Friday, Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly leads his Republican challenger, Trump-backed Blake Masters, by about 6 percentage points.
Arizona publishes its own estimates of the number of ballots that counties are still processing and tabulating. As of Friday afternoon, all of the state's 15 counties had reported the total amount of its votes that have been tabulated, and only one of those counties -- Greenlee -- had no outstanding ballots to count.
There are a little more than 500,000 votes left to be counted in Arizona, according to the secretary of state's office, including about 340,000 in Maricopa County -- the state's largest. In Pima County, the state's second-most populous, there are 114,000 ballots remaining.
Maricopa County will likely be decisive as it continues counting its own ballots. Officials in Maricopa expect to "probably" be done with their count on Monday.
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates told ABC News on Thursday he expects to wrap up vote counting in the state's largest county by Monday and that a record number of "late earlies" dropped off on Election Day is slowing the process but there is "nothing wrong" about what's going on.
"This is how the vote count goes," he said.
Masters' team has insisted they still see a pathway to victory.
"With the remaining ballots outstanding, we are confident we will win," Masters' press account tweeted Wednesday.
Georgia Senate runoff
With 99% of the expected vote reporting as of Friday, incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and challenger Republican Herschel Walker are virtually tied.
ABC News reports that neither candidate will crack 50% of the vote, though the state is still waiting for thousands of votes. That means Walker and Warnock will advance to a Dec. 6 runoff.
"This will be a very heavy lift for our counties, because it's a four-week runoff period. But have confidence: They will take all the measures required to rise to the task," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference Wednesday.
A Georgia judge ruled earlier this month that voters in Cobb County have until Monday to postmark their absentee ballots after 1,000 people were not mailed such ballots after requesting them.
House races up in the air
The U.S. House stands at risk of flipping from a Democratic to Republican majority, with 211 Republicans currently winning their seats compared to 204 Democratic victories, according to ABC News estimates. One party needs to cross a 218 threshold in order to win control.
There are outstanding results for 20 House seats. Eight of those seats are likely or leaning Democrat, four are likely or leaning Republican and two are toss-ups, according to FiveThirtyEight.
ABC News' Abby Cruz, Libby Cathey, Matt Fuhrman, Lalee Ibssa, Janai Norman and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
