The United States is set to go to polls on November 5, the D-Day to elect the next President. The elections have been a neck-and-neck contest between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
Polls will be closed after the November 5 voting. However, all eyes are stuck at one question — when will the US election results be announced? Results are expected to start coming in shortly after the first polls close at 6 pm (4:30 am IST) on Tuesday. The catch here is that the popular vote does not guarantee the ultimate victory as that can only be determined after the Electoral College.
Though the name of the candidate with majority votes is declared late on voting day or early next day, the close fight this season could result in a longer wait for the final word on who won the US elections, BBC reported.
There are also times where a projected winner maybe declared in one state while counting in another is underway.
Slim margins could also mean recounts. According to an AP report, recounts in most of the states are allowed when the margin between top contenders falls within a specific range — such as 0.5 percentage points — even when it means the number of votes separating them is in thousands or tens of thousands. And recounts naturally mean, more time in announcing of the final results.
The swing states might also cause a possible delay in the reaching the name of the race’s winner. Then again, the official winner will not be announced until electoral votes are also considered.
An electoral college is a process which includes the selection of electors by voters. The electors meet and cast votes for the President and Vice President of the United States of America.
The 538 members of the US Electoral College gather in the capitals of their respective states after the election to decide the winner. Each of the states get assigned a certain number of electors on the basis of the number of seats they hold in the House of Representatives and Senate.
A candidate needs 270 or more electoral college votes to be declared as the winner.
Since the process of picking the next president and vice president is long, naturally the exact time of the actual declaration of the winner largely remains unclear.
