People are asking -- How long will it take Virginia localities to release election results? It's hard to know exactly what to expect. But it's a pretty good bet that if you want to be assured you the outcome of most races, plan on staying up past 11 p.m. on Election night.

It's possible the outcome of many local races and some congressional elections may be known early in the evening. But there are 2 big differences this year that likely will push results later into the night and -- in the case of races too close to call -- until later in the week.

First, the massive increase in mail ballots. Localities can pre-process mail ballots in advance, but things could get bogged down if localities see an Election-Day surge of mail ballots delivered by USPS or dropped off by voters.

All early votes (email and in-person) are released at the same time, in what are known as Central Absentee Precincts. The worry is the task of counting a relatively small number of mail ballots will mean delays in the release of a much larger pool of early votes already tabulated

As a result, the Department of Elections issued guidance that all localities must stop counting mail ballots at 11 p.m. on Election Day begin the process of reporting the results of the early ballots have been counted to that point.

Local officials will return Wed am and resume counting any untabulated mail ballots. Those results will not be released until Friday afternoon

Which brings us to the 2nd big change this year: Local officials must consider any mail ballot delivered by USPS by noon the Friday after the election. This will set off the release of a second round of results starting Friday afternoon

This means we won't know the results of any race that's too close to call until Friday afternoon -- at the earliest.

Those who want a little more finality will have to wait until Monday, November 9. That's when localities have until 5 pm to consider any provisional ballots, ascertain results and report them to @vaelect