Americans will vote for their next president in a general election culminating on Tuesday, November 5.

Once voting closes, depending on how closed the contest is, a winner may not be projected for several hours, days, or even weeks. Here’s what you need to know.

Democrat Kamala Harris, the current vice president, and Republican Donald Trump, the former president, have been neck and neck for weeks.

Polls nationally and in key states have tightened as the November 5 date approaches, so the margins of victory could be very narrow in several places, potentially necessitating a vote recount.

It’s also possible that some results will arrive more slowly this year due to changes in how each state – including the seven swing states who will ultimately decide the race – have been holding their elections since 2020.

In contrast, vote counting has been sped up in places like Michigan, and this time around, far fewer votes will be cast by mail than in the last election, which was held during the Covid pandemic.

This means there are a number of possible outcomes: a winner declared on election night, the next morning, or possibly days or weeks later.

The 2020 elections took place on Tuesday, November 3, but American television networks did not declare Joe Biden the winner until late in the morning of Saturday, November 7.

As Americans went to bed on election night, Trump supporters were convinced victory was close, but in reality both candidates were within their reach. the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president-elect.

Although the vast majority of states announced their races within 24 hours, a handful of key states, including Pennsylvania and Nevada, did not.

Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, however, tended toward the Democrats. On Saturday morning, a new batch of ballots counted in the battleground state gave networks the confidence to project that Biden would win there.

CNN was the first to announce the result, and every other TV network followed suit over the next 15 minutes.

In general, voters have become accustomed to the idea that they will know who the next president will be by the time they go to bed late on election night or at least early in the morning the next day.

In 2016, for example, when Trump first won the presidency, he was declared the winner shortly before 3:00 a.m. EST (08:00 GMT) the day after the election.

In 2012, when Barack Obama won a second term, his victory was projected before midnight on Election Day itself.

But a notable recent exception was the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

The two campaigns faced off in a close fight in Florida, and the race was not decided until December 12, when the U.S. Supreme Court voted to end the state’s recount process, keeping Bush as the certified winner and thus giving him the keys to the recount. the White House.

Across the country, the first polling stations will close at 6:00 p.m. EST (10:00 p.m. GMT) Tuesday evening and the last polling stations will close at 1:00 a.m. EST (05:00 GMT) early Wednesday.

But this race should be decided on the results of the seven swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

7:00 p.m. EST (11:00 p.m. GMT) – Closure of polls in Georgia and five other states, and partially in two other states. That’s also when U.S. TV networks are expected to begin making their first calls of the night, to less competitive states like Kentucky.

7:30 p.m. EST (11:30 p.m. GMT) – Polls close in three states, including North Carolina, where Harris hopes to end a streak of defeats for Democratic presidential candidates since 2008.

2000 EST (0000 GMT) – Closure of polls in Pennsylvania, 15 other states and the District of Columbia, as well as partially in Michigan and four other states.

9:00 p.m. EST (01:00 GMT) – All remaining polling places close in Michigan. Voting will also end in Arizona, Wisconsin and 12 other states.

10:00 p.m. EST (02:00 GMT) – Polls are closed in Nevada and two other states, and partially in two others.

Typically, votes cast on Election Day are counted first, followed by early and absentee ballots, those that were challenged, and then overseas and military ballots.

Local election officials – sometimes appointed, sometimes elected – verify, process and count individual votes, in a process called canvassing.

Ballot verification includes comparing the number of cast voters with the number of active voters; remove, unfold and examine each ballot for tears, stains or other damage; and document and investigate any inconsistencies.

The counting of ballots consists of introducing each of them into electronic scanners which compile their results. Certain circumstances require manual counts or rechecked counts.

Each state and locality has strict rules that specify who can vote, the order in which votes are processed and which portions are open to the public, including how partisan observers can monitor and intervene in the counting of ballots. voice.

The tight margins will force media outlets to wait longer before making their projections, but they also raise the specter of recounts and legal challenges.

In Pennsylvania, for example, a statewide automatic recount goes into effect if there is a difference of half a percentage point between the votes cast for the winner and loser. In 2020, the margin was just over 1.1 percentage points.

More than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed across the country, including contesting voter eligibility and Republican management of voter rolls. The ongoing court decisions in these cases are shaping this race by the day.

Other scenarios that could cause delays include any election-related disorder, particularly at polling places, and obstacles to vote counting, such as a burst water pipe at a polling site. processing ballots in Georgia in 2020.

Once every valid vote has been included in the final results and after processes such as recounts are completed, the election results are certified – first in local jurisdictions and then at the state level.

A state executive, usually the governor, then certifies what is called a voter roll. who will represent their state in the electoral college. These electors meet in their respective states on December 17 to cast their votes and send them to Washington.

On January 6, a new U.S. Congress meets in a joint session to count the electoral votes, with the current vice president presiding.

After the 2020 election, Trump refused to acknowledge defeat and rallied his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to certify Biden’s victory.

He urged his vice president, Mike Pence, to reject the results – but Pence refused.

Even after the riot was resolved and members of Congress regrouped, 147 Republicans voted unsuccessfully to overturn Trump’s defeat.

Since then, election reforms have made it harder for lawmakers to object to the certified results sent to them by each state, and also clarified that the vice president does not have the power to unilaterally reject electoral votes.

Nonetheless, election observers expect that efforts to delay certification of the 2024 vote could take place at the local and state levels.

Trump, his running mate JD Vance and top Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have repeatedly refused to state unequivocally that they would accept the results of the election if he loses.

The president-elect will be inaugurated Monday, January 20, 2025 on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol complex.

This will be the 60th presidential inauguration in United States history.

The event will see the new president take the oath of office pledging to uphold the Constitution and then deliver his inaugural address.