It is the world’s most anticipated election but determining the winner of the US presidency is not a straightforward process and there are many tasks that need to be undertaken to confirm who will lead one of the world’s most powerful nations for the next four years.
It all starts from the moment polls close and ballots begin to be counted.
What time will polls close?
Polls close at different local times across the US.
For the majority of US states, polls will close at some point between 7- 8 p.m. States like Indiana and Kentucky can close as early as 6 p.m. and New York polls are open until 9 p.m.
Some polling places may also have exceptions to statewide rules.
Of course, these closing times are all local because American elections occur across six time zones.
It means when polls close in places like Hawaii and Alaska, it will be midnight on the nation’s eastern seaboard with results already trickling in from there.
When will the results be announced?
Results will start being reported when polls close and ballot boxes are opened for counting on the East Coast.
Exit pollsters like Edison Research and reporters at the Associated Press will be feeding results back from counting stations to their respective press clients in the National Election Pool and AP VoteCast.
As is tradition, it is the media, including TV networks, radio stations and print and online newspapers that will begin reporting these results, projecting outcomes and calling winners, state by state, once they are confident about who has won.
What happens when there is no winner on Election Day?
Given current polling, it’s a distinct possibility.
There’s a strong likelihood some Electoral College results won’t be known on the night and it may take days for results to become clear.
There’s also the threat that results will be challenged by Donald Trump, which would further delay proceedings.
There is no central election authority either, with states themselves responsible for conducting elections and ballot counting, so the job calling results boils down to the traditional media outlets and their methods for determining whether a candidate has won a race.
When is a result formalized?
While there are many fuzzy areas around what happens and when, in American presidential elections, there are some fixed timelines.
For instance, every four years, the election is held on “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.” This year, that’s November 5.
Before December 11, a state will issue certificates of ascertainment for its appointed presidential electors. Rather than being directly elected by the popular vote, the President is certified by appointed electors from each state and the District of Columbia. Each state is allocated electors based on the number of congresspeople in the US House of Representatives, or Congress, and the US Senate. Each elector has one vote.
On December 17, the Electoral College – the panel of 538 electors – will gather in their states to pledge their votes to a candidate. All states, except for Maine and Nebraska, pledge all their electors to the most popular candidate in their state.
These votes are then sent to the President of the Senate (the current Vice President, which is Kamala Harris) on December 25.
On January 6, 2025, a joint session of Congress is held where Harris will oversee the counting of the votes and announces the Electoral College’s decision. In this case, she will either announce herself as the new President, or her Republican opponent Donald Trump.
