When will we all know who gained?

American voters will go to the polls on November 5 to decide on their subsequent president.

US election outcomes have generally been declared inside hours of the polls closing, however this yr’s tight contest might imply an extended wait.

In some presidential races the winner was named late on election evening or early the subsequent morning. This time, the tight race in lots of states might trigger the media to attend longer earlier than projecting who gained.

Democrat Kamala Harris, the present vice chairman, and Republican Donald Trump, the previous president, have been competing for weeks.

Narrow victories might additionally imply recounts. In the important thing state of Pennsylvania, for instance, a statewide recount could be mandatory if there was a distinction of half a proportion level between the votes forged for the winner and loser. In 2020 the margin was simply over 1.1 proportion factors.

Legal challenges are additionally potential. More than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed by Republicans, together with challenges to voter eligibility and voter roll administration.

Other situations that might trigger delays embrace any election-related disruption, notably at polling stations.

On the opposite hand, vote counting has been accelerated in some areas, together with the essential state of Michigan, and much fewer votes shall be forged by mail than within the final election, which passed off in the course of the Covid pandemic.

The 2020 election passed off on Tuesday, November 3. However, US tv networks solely declared Joe Biden the winner late on the morning of Saturday 7 November, after the end in Pennsylvania had develop into clearer.

In different latest elections, voters have had a a lot shorter wait.

In 2016, when Trump gained the presidency, he was declared the winner simply earlier than 3am EST (8am GMT) the day after the election.

In 2012, when Barack Obama secured a second time period, his victory was predicted earlier than midnight on election day itself.

However, the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was a notable exception.

The vote was held on November 7, however the two campaigns went to warfare over a tricky contest in Florida and the race was not determined till December 12. The U.S. Supreme Court voted to finish the state’s recount course of, which stored Bush because the winner and handed him the White House.

Across the nation, the primary polls will shut at 6pm EST (11pm GMT) on Tuesday night and the final polls will shut at 1am EST (0600 GMT) early Wednesday.

The early tabulations could also be trending Republican in some states, what has been known as a “pink mirage” in earlier years. That’s as a result of smaller districts (with fewer voters) end counting earlier than massive cities, which tends to skew Democratic.

But this race is predicted to rely upon outcomes seven swing states which specialists imagine might conceivably be gained by Harris or Trump. These are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

7:00 PM EST (00:00 GMT) – The polls are approaching Georgia and 5 different states, and partially in two different states. This can be when U.S. tv networks are prone to begin making their first calls of the evening, in much less aggressive states like Kentucky.

7:30 PM EST (00:30 GMT) – Polls shut in three states, together with North Carolina. With early outcomes from North Carolina and Georgia, an image could also be beginning to type of which candidate is performing higher, however it should nonetheless be too early to establish any tendencies forming nationwide.

8:00 PM EST (01:00 GMT) – Polls are approaching Pennsylvania15 different states and the District of Columbia, in addition to partially in Michigan and 4 different states. Georgia’s high elections official estimates that about 75% of the votes shall be counted by then.

9:00 PM EST (02:00 GMT) – Voting ends in Arizona, Wisconsin and 12 different states. All remaining polls shut in Michigan. Michigan permits officers to start counting votes every week earlier than Election Day, however they aren’t allowed to disclose the outcomes till the polls shut. By distinction, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin don’t permit vote counting to start till in-person voting begins, resulting in an anticipated delay in outcomes from these states.

10:00 PM EST (03:00 GMT) – Polls shut Nevada and two different states, and partially in two others. Counting Nevada’s votes might take days as a result of the state permits absentee ballots to be counted so long as they had been postmarked on Election Day and arrive no later than Nov. 9.

Some mail-in and mail-in ballots, together with votes from members of the navy and Americans dwelling overseas, are usually among the many final to be counted.

Typically, votes forged on Election Day are counted first, adopted by early and absentee ballots, contested ballots, after which abroad and navy ballots.

Local election officers, generally appointed, generally elected, confirm, course of and depend particular person votes, in a course of referred to as canvassing.

Verification of poll papers consists of evaluating the quantity forged with the variety of energetic voters; take away, open and look at every particular person card for tears, stains or different injury; doc and examine any inconsistencies.

Ballot counting includes inserting every poll into digital scanners that tabulate the outcomes. Some circumstances require guide counts or double-checked counts.

Each state and locality has strict guidelines about who can take part within the ballot, the order during which votes are processed and which elements are open to the general public, together with how partisan observers can monitor and intervene in vote counting.

Once all legitimate votes are included within the closing outcomes, the method referred to as electoral faculty comes into play.

In every state a variable variety of votes will be obtained within the electoral faculty, and it’s exactly by guaranteeing these – and never simply the help of the voters themselves – that the presidency is in the end obtained.

Typically, states award all Electoral College votes to whoever wins the favored vote and that is confirmed after the December 17 conferences.

The new US Congress will then meet on January 6 to depend the electoral faculty votes and ensure the brand new president.

After the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede victory and rallied supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to certify Biden’s victory.

He urged his vice chairman, Mike Pence, to reject the outcomes, however Pence refused.

Even after the riot was quelled and members of Congress regrouped, 147 Republicans unsuccessfully voted to overturn Trump’s defeat.

Election reforms have since made it more durable for lawmakers to object to licensed outcomes despatched to them by particular person states. They additionally made it clear that the vice chairman doesn’t have the ability to unilaterally reject electoral votes.

However, election observers anticipate that efforts to delay certification of the 2024 vote might happen on the native and state ranges.

Trump, his deputy JD Vance and high Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have refused on a number of events to state unequivocally that they may settle for the outcomes if defeated.

The president-elect will start his time period after being inaugurated on Monday, January 20, 2025, within the U.S. Capitol advanced.

It would be the sixtieth presidential inauguration in US historical past.

The occasion will see the brand new president take the oath of workplace with a pledge to uphold the Constitution after which ship his inaugural deal with.