CLAY COUNTY – President Donald Trump declared victory in the early hours of Nov. 4, but many of his critics and news outlets are saying this was done too early. That’s because there are still millions of votes in many places to be counted. The majority of those votes are mail-in and absentee ballots. The election is now an argument about when do you stop accepting and counting ballots.

“As long as it’s postmarked by the election date,” Kristan Hart said in response to the Clay Today Facebook Question of the Week. “We cannot control the mail, but if it was mailed on or before election day, it should be valid.”

Wendy Richardson agreed and said as long as the ballot envelope is dated prior to or on Election Day, it’s a valid ballot and should be accepted. Other Clay Today readers said ballots that come in post-Election Day shouldn’t be counted.

This scenario is in reference to ballots mailed off on or before Election Day that haven’t yet reached where they need to go through the mail. That’s the Clay County Supervisor of Elections office in Green Cove Springs, for example. Clay County received 100,518 vote by mail and early votes, and the only outstanding votes are those from the military.

Ten people responded to Clay Today’s Facebook question to say mail-in ballots shouldn’t be counted after Election Day.

Bev Biroschik said if someone can’t get it mailed to where it needs to go before Nov. 3, they should just drop it off in person instead of putting it in the mail. Dawn Wilson said people have plenty of time to mail it in or drop it off at the proper location, which is why she doesn’t believe mail-in ballots received after Nov. 3 be counted.

Clay Today also asked its readers what they thought of the Election Day results that poured in that night. Rhett Roberts said he was very happy to see Clay County’s elections go so smoothly.

“Mr. [Chris] Chambless continues to do a great job,” Roberts said.

Scotty Due said that Clay and Florida are red, which was reflected in this year’s results. But Domenic Musco said the final electoral map will include a victory for Democrat Joe Biden. He said a Pennsylvania win will wrap it up.

The election is still undecided with millions of votes still to be counted. Trump will likely continue to push the demand a fair accounting of votes, while Biden will likely focus on those same votes as he looks for 270 electoral college votes. It could be days. It could be weeks. Only time will tell.

What do you think of mail-in ballots? What do you think of this year’s election? Let us know on the official Clay Today Newspaper Facebook page.