This story was originally published by Public News Service.

With concerns about election integrity in the air, experts are reminding Marylanders determining the outcome may take a while.

Maryland will utilize the same paper-based voting system used in every election since 2016. Post-election audits have consistently shown the voting system counted ballots correctly and reported results accurately.

For the national results, Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters, said the closer the election, the longer it will take for networks to project a winner. Another factor is the rules governing the counting process vary from state to state.

"Whether they can start counting mail-in ballots before or on Election Day, that's critical," Stewart explained. "The number of mail-in ballots in each state that they have to process and validate is a factor. Whether states allow mail-in ballots to be accepted after Election Day. There's just so many different factors that have to be considered and taken into account here."

In Maryland, mail-in ballot counting began in mid-October. Mail-in ballots received by 10 a.m. on Nov. 15 will still be counted, so long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day.

The state reports more than 600,000 mail-in ballots were returned as of late Sunday, with more than 260,000 requested ballots as yet unreturned. In-person early voting numbers saw nearly 1 million Marylanders cast a ballot during the 8-day early voting period.

Local election boards will meet after Election Day to continue to count mail-in and provisional ballots, in meetings called canvasses. Members of both political parties are in attendance during canvassing, and the meetings are open to the public. Stewart stressed it is important to remember who is doing this work.

"These are our neighbors," Stewart pointed out. "These are folks who are part of our community, who are doing an incredible civic duty to get this done, often working long hours to do this; 15, 16 or more hours to get this done."

Information on local canvassing days including the rules to observe the count are on the state Board of Elections website at Elections.Maryland.gov.