Determined to catch late night election procedure — but failing? (3,3,3,5)
I believe the answer is:
out for the count
'late night election procedure but failing?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'determined to catch' is the wordplay.
'determined' becomes 'out'.
'to' becomes 'for'.
'catch' becomes 'thecount' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'out'+'for'+'thecount'='OUT FOR THE COUNT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for out for the count that I've seen before include "Flat" , "Like an active vampire hunter" , "Sound asleep" , "not 15 [SAVED BY THE BELL] - with 9a" , "as vengeful Figaro was?" .)