US election: what time do the polls close and when will the results be known? An expert explains
In November 2020, during the last presidential election in the U.S., it took four days after the polls closed for Joe Biden to be announced as the winner.
This was mainly because the differences in votes in key swing states were incredibly small, leading to a few recounts. Additionally, there were many mail-in ballots that needed to be counted after election day. On top of that, all of this took place during a global pandemic, which made things even more complicated.
Since that time, several states have modified their election laws to expedite the counting process. However, even if the counting doesn't take as long this time, we can be certain that a winner won't be determined on the night of the election.
Poll Opening And Closing Times Explained
On the morning of November 5, there isn’t a uniform start time for voting across the country. In many states, polling places will open at 7 a.m. local time, while others may start as early as 5 a.m. or as late as 10 a.m. Some states, like New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Washington, have varying start times determined by individual counties or cities.
Polling hours vary across the country. In states like Indiana and Kentucky, voting will wrap up as early as 6 PM Eastern Time (11 PM GMT), while in Hawaii and Alaska, the polls will remain open until midnight Eastern Time (5 AM GMT).
A significant sign of which candidate is ahead will emerge between 7 PM and 8 PM Eastern Time (midnight to 1 AM GMT), when the polls shut in the crucial battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina. Both states are crucial for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and if Harris is announced as the winner in either state, it could shift the momentum in her direction.
The next significant event is expected to take place between 8 PM and 9 PM Eastern Time (1 AM to 2 AM GMT) when voting concludes in the blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. However, it’s improbable that a winner will be announced immediately in any of these states. By 10 PM Eastern Time (3 AM GMT), polls will also close in two other important swing states, Arizona and Nevada.
When Will Votes Be Tallied?
There are a number of reasons why election results might not be available right after voting closes. Take Arizona, for instance; the state has regulations that permit voters to submit their finished ballots at the polling place on the day of the election or the day before. This is not a practice followed by every state. However, these ballots that are submitted late can't be counted until after the voting period is over.
Pennsylvania is perhaps the most valuable swing state that both the Democratic and Republican parties are competing for. With 19 electoral votes, it holds the highest number among all battleground states. As a result, the candidate who wins Pennsylvania is likely to secure enough support in the electoral college—the body responsible for electing the president based on each state's voting results—and ultimately clinch the presidency.
Learn more: US elections: what is the process of the electoral college voting system?
However, in Pennsylvania, election officials can't start handling mail-in ballots until 7 AM local time on the day of the election. This means that it might take more than 24 hours after the polls close for the results to be announced.
However, Alauna Safarpour, an assistant professor at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, believes the delay won't be as lengthy as it was four years ago. In an article for The Conversation dated October 29, she stated that it is "very probable" that fewer people in Pennsylvania will opt for mail-in voting this time.
"Fewer voters chose to cast their ballots by mail in the 2022 midterm elections compared to the 2020 general elections, and this pattern is expected to persist into 2024," she notes.
Learn more: The reasons behind the delayed counting of Pennsylvania's election outcomes.
Michigan and Nevada, two important states, have updated their election counting procedures since 2020. They now allow ballots to be processed before election day. Conversely, in North Carolina, the recent impact of Hurricane Helene has complicated the processing of votes prior to the election, which could result in additional delays.
In Wisconsin, the process of tallying votes in two of the largest counties, Milwaukee and Dane, tends to take a considerable amount of time. These counties are major urban areas, housing approximately 1.5 million residents together. The outcomes in these regions will play a crucial role in determining the overall results in Wisconsin as well as in the presidential election.
Factors That Could Delay Results
There are worries that some local actors might try to complicate and postpone the election outcomes in key battleground states. For instance, back in January 2020, many Republican lawmakers in Congress raised objections to the election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, both of which were victories for Biden.
In seven pivotal states, individuals who wrongly asserted they were part of the electoral college made attempts to declare Trump the victor for their states. Their ballots were submitted to Congress, where they were combined with those from the legitimate electors. Some members of Congress contended that this alternative set of electoral votes raised questions about the official outcomes in those states. In 2023, Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer for Trump's campaign, admitted his guilt in Georgia for his part in undermining the election process.
Norman Eisen, Samara Angel, and Clare Boone, researchers at the Brookings Institution, have closely examined how a similar situation might occur in 2024. They highlight questionable tactics that could be employed to distort election outcomes, particularly by not certifying the results at the county level.
For instance, in Georgia's state election board, three individuals who reject the results of elections—Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston, and Janelle King—have significant influence. Together, they have created new regulations that enable the pause of vote certification whenever investigations are initiated regarding supposed "irregularities."
Eisen, Angel, and Boone suggest that although "these efforts might end up failing like those in the past, they could still increase anxiety and suspicion." Considering these challenges and the current polls showing a tie, it's likely that we won't find out who won the election for several days.
