The United States presidential election officially takes place on Tuesday, November 5 as the polls close and votes start to be counted and announced. Once the final tally is in, they must be certified, a duty typically given to the current vice president. In this case, that would be Kamala Harris, who also happens to be running for president herself.

Follow AS’s live coverage of Election Day and the count in swing states

Although you might think an exception would be made in this election, it remains the law - Kamala Harris will announce the winner of the election, whether it‘s herself or her opponent, Republican Donald Trump. Here’s how the whole process works...

The complex U.S. elections process and why Kamala is responsible for declaring the winnner

Although the polls will begin to close on Tuesday, November 5 at 6 p.m. ET (11 p.m. BST), the results will not be official for much longer, as counting and verifying the votes can take weeks.

The people responsible for the counting of the votes varies from location to location and depends on the kind of equipment used to vote. Those done with a scanner are recounted and double-checked manually. Then, results will be shared with electoral officials, parties, and eventually, the public.

Depending on the state, the process can take even longer. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example, workers cannot even begin to look at the mail-in ballots until after election day, significantly slowing down the process.

Why Kamala Harris is the certifier

Due to all of the slow-downs and late counts, the results you hear on election night are not official but rather an estimate. While some key states have to finish their tallies by November 22, others only need to certify them by December 11. On December 17, the presidential “electors” meet and send the sates' results to Congress. This is where Harris comes in.

The constitution states that the electoral votes have to be received by the President of the Senate, which is the current Vice President, by December 25. Despite the fact that the current U.S. vice president is running for president, she will be responsible for certifying the results, whether she’s won it herself or her opponent has won it. Kamala Harris must officially certify the presidential election result.

“The Constitution names the vice president of the United States as the president of the Senate. In addition to serving as presiding officer, the vice president … formally presides over the receiving and counting of electoral ballots cast in presidential elections.”

It‘s not the first time this has happened. Al Gore had to certify his own loss to George Bush in 2001, leading to several objections. There was also controversy when Trump asked his running mate and VP Mike Pence not to certify the results of the 2020 election, which eventually led to his charges of conspiracy to defraud the country, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights in connection with an alleged pressure campaign on state officials to reverse the 2020 election results.

This year, the certification process is expected to be longer due to legal battles, including Trump potentially contesting any loss of his own as invalid.

Either way, it’s Kamala Harris who will make the decision official and final.