Tuesday is Election Day, but it may be a few days before the winner of the 2020 presidential election is determined.
So many people have voted early across the country that the United States is already at 85% of the total vote from the 2016 election. But those early votes may not translate into early results. It could take days for the overworked election officials to count every vote, depending on state laws.
Here are some states to watch to help anticipate who the winner of the election will be:
In Florida, mail-in ballots have to arrive by the time the polls close in Florida. In North Carolina, mail-in ballots only have to be postmarked by Election Day. But election officials predict that 97% of the vote will be in. It is likely that a winner will be known in Florida and North Carolina by election night.
This probably won’t be the case in Pennsylvania, where officials won’t begin to count mail-in ballots until Wednesday. If the election is close, results will almost certainly wind up in court, which will slow down the results even more.
And in New Jersey – the state has already received more than 3.5 million votes, or almost 85% of the total votes from 2016. Some races could get called early, but those that don’t will not be called for a while.
New Jersey accepts mail-in ballots as late as Nov. 10, so in-person votes won’t be counted until Nov. 11.
News 12 New Jersey will have full election night coverage Tuesday starting at 8 p.m.