When will we all know who gained?

Individuals are voting for his or her subsequent president in a common election that culminates on Tuesday 5 November.

As soon as polls shut, relying on how shut the competition is, it’s doable a winner is not going to be projected for a number of hours, days and even weeks. Here is what you might want to know.

Democrat Kamala Harris, the present vice-president, and Republican Donald Trump, the previous president, have been working neck-and-neck for weeks.

Nationwide and swing state polls have tightened as 5 November attracts nearer, so there could possibly be very slender margins of victory in a number of locations, which can require votes to be recounted.

It’s also doable that some outcomes could come in additional slowly this yr because of modifications in how particular person states – together with all seven swing states that may in the end determine the race – have administered their elections since 2020.

Then again, vote-counting has been sped up in locations like Michigan, and much fewer votes shall be forged by mail this time than within the final election, which was held throughout the Covid pandemic.

This implies there are a selection of doable outcomes – a winner declared on election night time, the following morning or presumably days or even weeks later.

The 2020 election occurred on Tuesday 3 November, however US TV networks didn’t declare Joe Biden the winner till late morning on Saturday 7 November.

As Individuals went to mattress on election night time, Trump supporters felt assured victory was close to however, in truth, each candidates have been inside attain of the 270 electoral faculty votes wanted to turn into president-elect.

Although the overwhelming majority of states known as their races inside a 24-hour interval, a handful of key states – together with Pennsylvania and Nevada – didn’t.

Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, had nonetheless been trending towards the Democrats. On Saturday morning, a contemporary batch of ballots counted from the battleground state gave networks the boldness to venture that Biden would win there.

CNN was the primary to announce the outcome, with each different TV community following go well with over the following quarter-hour.

Usually, voters have turn into used to the concept that they are going to know who the following president goes to be by the point they go to mattress late on election night time or no less than within the early morning hours of the following day.

In 2016, for instance, when Trump first gained the presidency, he was declared the winner shortly earlier than 03:00 EST (08:00 GMT) the day after the election.

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

However one notable latest exception was the 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore.

The 2 campaigns went to conflict over a good contest in Florida, and the race was not determined till 12 December when the US Supreme Courtroom voted to finish the state’s recount course of, preserving Bush in place because the licensed winner and thus handing him the keys to the White Home.

Throughout the nation, the primary polls will shut at 1800 EST (2200 GMT) on Tuesday night and the final polls will shut at 0100 EST (0500 GMT) early on Wednesday.

However this race is predicted to come back right down to outcomes from the seven swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

1900 EST (2300 GMT) – Polls shut in Georgia and 5 different states, and partially in two extra states. That is additionally when US TV networks are prone to start making their first calls of the night time, in much less aggressive states like Kentucky.

1930 EST (2330 GMT) – Polls shut throughout three states, together with North Carolina, the place Harris is hoping to finish a string of losses for Democratic presidential candidates since 2008.

2000 EST (0000 GMT) – Polls shut in Pennsylvania, 15 different states and the District of Columbia, in addition to partially in Michigan and 4 different states.

2100 EST (0100 GMT) – All remaining polls shut in Michigan. Voting may even finish in Arizona, Wisconsin and 12 different states.

2200 EST (0200 GMT) – Polls shut throughout Nevada and two different states, and partially in two others.

Usually, the votes forged on election day are tallied first, adopted by early and mail ballots, these which were challenged, after which abroad and army ballots.

Native election officers – typically appointed, typically elected – confirm, course of and depend particular person votes, in a course of often known as canvassing.

Verifying ballots contains evaluating the quantity forged with the variety of lively voters; eradicating, unfolding and analyzing each single poll for tears, stains or different injury; and documenting and investigating any inconsistencies.

Counting ballots includes feeding every one into digital scanners that tabulate their outcomes. Some circumstances require guide counts or double-checked tallies.

Each state and locality has rigorous guidelines which specify who can take part within the canvass, the order wherein votes are processed and which components are open to the general public, together with how partisan observers can monitor and intervene in vote-counting.

Tight margins will compel media shops to attend longer earlier than making their projections, however additionally they elevate the spectre of recounts and authorized challenges.

In Pennsylvania, for instance, an automated state-wide recount goes into impact if there’s a half-percentage level distinction between the votes forged for the winner and the loser. In 2020, the margin was simply over 1.1 share factors.

Greater than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed throughout the nation, together with challenges to voter eligibility and voter roll administration by Republicans. Ongoing courtroom rulings in these circumstances have been shaping this race by the day.

Different situations that would trigger delays embrace any cases of election-related dysfunction, significantly at polling places, and obstacles to vote-counting, just like the bursting of a water pipe at a poll processing web site in Georgia in 2020.

As soon as each legitimate vote has been included within the ultimate outcomes, and after processes comparable to recounts have been accomplished, the election outcomes are licensed – first in native jurisdictions, then on the state-wide stage.

A state government, sometimes the governor, then certifies what’s often known as a slate of electors that may symbolize their state within the electoral faculty. These electors meet of their respective states on 17 December to forged their votes and ship them to Washington.

On 6 January, a brand new US Congress meets in a joint session to depend the electoral votes, with the present vice-president presiding.

After the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede defeat and rallied supporters to march on the US Capitol as Congress was assembly to certify Biden’s victory.

He urged his vice-president, Mike Pence, to reject the outcomes – however Pence refused.

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

Electoral reforms since then have made it more durable for lawmakers to object to licensed outcomes despatched to them from particular person states, and have additionally clarified that the vice-president has no energy to unilaterally reject electoral votes.

However, election watchers count on that efforts to delay certification of the 2024 vote may happen on the native and state stage.

Trump, his working mate JD Vance and prime Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have refused on a number of events to state unequivocally that they are going to settle for the outcomes of the election if he loses.

The president-elect shall be inaugurated on Monday 20 January 2025 on the grounds of the US Capitol advanced.

It will likely be the sixtieth presidential inauguration in US historical past.

The occasion will see the brand new president sworn in on a pledge to uphold the Structure after which ship their inaugural tackle.