American voters go to the polls on Tuesday to choose their next president.
U.S. election results in the past been declared within hours of the polls closing, but this year’s tightly contested could mean a longer wait.
In some presidential races the winner has been named late on election night, or early the next morning. This time, the knife-edge race in some states could mean media outlets wait longer before predicting the victor.
Democrat Kamala Harris, the current vice-president, and Republican Donald Trump, the former president, have been running neck-and-neck for weeks with the race too close to safely call.
Narrow victories could also mean recounts in some states, as Dan Perry wrote for Universul.net. In the key swing state of Pennsylvania, for example, a state-wide recount would be required if there’s a half-percentage-point difference between the votes cast for the winner and loser. In 2020, the margin was just over 1.1 percentage points.
Legal challenges are also possible. More than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed, including challenges to voter eligibility and voter roll management, by Republicans.
Election-related disorder, particularly at polling locations could cause delays.
However, vote-counting has sped up in some areas, including the crucial state of Michigan, and far fewer votes will be cast by mail than in the last election held during the pandemic.
The 2020 election was held on Tuesday 3 November. But US TV networks did not declare Joe Biden the winner until late morning on Saturday 7 November, after the result in Pennsylvania became clearer.
Voters have had a much shorter wait in other recent elections.
In 2016, when Trump won the presidency, he was declared the winner shortly before 03:00 EST (08:00 GMT) the day after the election.
In 2012, when Barack Obama secured a second term, his victory was projected before midnight on polling day itself.
The 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore was a notable exception.
The vote was held on 7 November, but the two campaigns went to war over a tight contest in Florida and the race was not decided until 12 December. The US Supreme Court voted to end the state’s recount process, which kept Bush in place as winner.
