When will the US election results be released on November 6th: Hour-by-hour guide

Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, and vice president, Democrat Kamala Harris, are holding competing rallies in the final stretch of the US presidential election campaign. Whoever wins the race to become the 47th president of the United States will not be elected by popular vote, but rather by an indirect electoral system called the Electoral College. This indirect electoral system is one of the most unique features of the world's oldest modern democracy.

Electoral College: How Americans Vote

The Electoral College consists of a group of delegates from each US state who then elect the next US president based on their party affiliation. When an average American votes in a U.S. presidential election on November 5th, they will elect these delegates in their respective states who will have the final say in electing the next U.S. president.

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Each state has a certain number of Electoral College votes – two votes from the two members representing the state in the U.S. Senate + the number of delegates equal to its representation in the House of Representatives. A candidate seeking to become the next U.S. president needs an absolute majority of 270 or more votes out of 538 Electoral College votes.

The winner takes all

Each state in the USA has a certain number of electoral votes. The College follows the rule in the popular vote that the winner takes all and the first candidate to achieve a simple majority is awarded all of that state's electoral votes.

This indirect electoral system has created a strange situation in which a candidate can become U.S. president by securing enough Electoral College votes without securing enough votes from the American people.

The most recent case is Trump's victory in the 2016 US presidential election. Although his competitor, Democrat Hilary Clinton, secured almost three million electoral votes, Trump managed to win 306 votes in the Electoral College. The Republican also won key states with the most electoral votes – Texas (38), Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), Michigan (16), Georgia (16), North Carolina (15), Arizona (16 ) and Wisconsin (10). Trump called his victory “beautiful.”

Prospective presidential candidates are also focusing on states called “swing states” or “battleground states.” These are states where either a Democratic or Republican candidate could likely win in a statewide election. These states have a large number of electoral votes that can ultimately decide the next US president. Seven states are considered “battleground states” in this year’s election – Pennsylvania (19), Nevada (6), North Carolina (16), Georgia (16), Arizona (11), Michigan (15) and Wisconsin (10). .

The college's voters will gather in their state capitols on December 17 and cast their votes for the next U.S. president and vice president. On January 6, 2025, the US Congress will meet to confirm the winner, and on January 20 the new president will be sworn in.

Why the Electoral College?

The U.S. Constitution established the system and rules for indirect, single-pass presidential elections in 1787. The country's founding fathers saw the system as a compromise between direct presidential elections with universal adult suffrage and indirect election by members of the U.S. Congress.

Alexander Hamilton, one of the country's founding fathers, endorsed the system in 1788, saying the system guaranteed that a U.S. president would have “a character distinguished by ability and virtue” and not just “the petty arts of popularity.” dominated.

Timing of the US elections

The US election begins on November 5th between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time. Since the country has several time zones, in India this is approximately between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Most polling stations in the US will close between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on November 5th, and in India between 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 6th.

Voting in battleground states also ends between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. These seven states are Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.

When can results be expected?

Results are expected to be available once polls close local time in each state. According to one AlJazeera Several states in the western United States will reportedly continue to vote, while eastern states are beginning to receive results.

Accordingly AlJazeeraBattleground states will begin releasing results once voting ends at 7:00 p.m. EST. Some of the major states are listed below.

Pennsylvania: The state does not allow mail-in ballots to be counted until Election Day. Results are therefore not expected on election evening. In 2020, the state did not have a clear winner four days after the poll.

Georgia: State law requires all early votes to be counted and reported by 8:00 p.m. EST, which is 6:30 a.m. in India on November 6th.

North Carolina: Votes are expected to be counted during the evening of November 5th, with full results not expected until midnight. This roughly corresponded to November 6th at 10:30 am in India.

Nevada: This state accepts mail-in ballots that arrive late. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the results will be released that same night. In the 2020 elections, results were announced a few days after the election.