When will we know election results and who has won?

US Election 2020 live: Trump and Biden results | Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia... 

Because of the US electoral college system, the final decision of who has won the election is either obvious or a wait until the end. There is an idea that the winner is declared the night of the election but that isn’t always the case. In 2000 the decision didn’t come until December when the recount in Florida was stopped by a controversial Supreme Court decision and George W. Bush had the lead. In 2016 the election wasn’t called until after 2 a.m. the next day.

Due to the unprecedented number of people, over 100 million, taking advantage of mail-in and early voting this year the count could take longer than normal. Some states are experienced but others are newer to the system. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania weren’t allowed to begin counting early and mail-in ballots until the morning of election day.

Don't expect the early results to be the final results

Depending on the state and which votes they count first it could be a rollercoaster ride of one candidate in the lead only for the results to change. However, this is nothing new and actually happens more often than one would think. As Josh Shapiro the Attorney General of Pennsylvania said on the Rachel Maddow show “This election will not end until all eligible votes are counted.” adding “That will take a few days.”

However, if there is a decisive lead in key states the result of the national election will be a clear-cut affair and you can expect to go to bed knowing who the 46th President of the United States will be.

So, what races should we watch.

Florida

All eyes will be on Florida, no Republican has gone to the White House without Florida’s 29 electoral votes. If Trump loses Florida his path to the White House will be much harder. He will need to pull a number of the following states into his column.

Ohio

The Buckeye State has been a bellwether for the winner of the presidential race choosing the winner every race since 1944 with just one miss in 1960 when the voted for Richard Nixon.

North Carolina

Obama won here in 2008 but the state went back to the red column in 2012. This year North Carolina could go blue again.

Georgia

Trying to expand the number of blue states Joe Biden has campaigned in the Peach State and it is a toss-up. Losing Georgia would further pinch Trump’s chances to get back into the White House.

Texas

No one would have thought but the Lone Star State could be in play this year. Texas has seen astronomical voting and legal challenges to those votes. If the race is close those votes could make all the difference and will draw out the final decision for the presidential race.

The blue wall

Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have been fairly safe for Democrats but in 2016 that changed. Although Minnesota stayed blue the other two went for Trump but in all three the margins were narrow. These states are expected to go for Biden but Republican pollsters talk of “silent Trump voters” coming out en masse.

Pennsylvania

The Keystone State may be the key to the whole race and the final battleground for legal wrangling on a scale not seen before in American politics. Seven Republican-held counties have said that they won’t begin counting their early and mail-in ballots until the day after the election, Bob Bauer, Senior Advisor to the Biden campaign says that there could be as many as 150,000 votes for Biden there