US Election: How Votes Are Counted; When Will We Know Who Won (image @VoteGov)
US go to polls today. The White House is under barricade and heavy protection as the knife-edge race is going on. As of Sunday, the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has a slight edge over Republican Donald Trump, as per national polling average. However, the seven swing states is giving a nail-biting competition.
Unlike all the other democratic country, the popular votes do not decide on the winner. It will pick up the electoral college, who will then vote for the President.
In some presidential race, the winner has been named late on the election night, or early next morning.
The neck-on-neck race in the swing states make media outlets vary of projecting the winner. They wait longer to announce the who has won.
Narrow victories could also mean recounts. For instance, in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, a state-wide recount would be required if there’s a half-percentage-point difference between the votes cast for the winner and loser. In 2020, the margin was just over 1.1 percentage points. Legal challenges are also possible in such cases. Reportedly, more than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed, including challenges to voter eligibility and voter roll management, by Republicans.
Also Read: Explainer: How US Election Works, How President Is Elected
In 2020, the election took place on November 3rd. But the US news outlets did not declare Joe Biden as the winner until late morning on Saturday 7 November, after the result in Pennsylvania became clearer.
In 2016, Trump was declared as the winner shortly, on the day after the election itself. In 2012, when Barak Obama won his second term, he was declared the winner before the midnight of the polling day.
At the same time, in 2020, when George W Bush and Al Gore raced each other, the election was held on November 7, but the two campaigns went to war over a tight contest in Florida and the race was not decided until 12 December. The US Supreme Court voted to end the state’s recount process, which kept Bush in place as winner and handed him the White House.
How the Vote Counting Works:
Counting of the votes requires patience, to put it simply. Usually, the votes cast on election day are tallied first, followed by early and mail ballots, those that have been challenged, and then overseas and military ballots.
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The local election officials, who are sometimes appointed, or elected, verify, process and count individual votes, in a process known as canvassing. The verifying of ballot includes comparing the number cast with the number of active voters; removing, unfolding and examining every single ballot for tears, stains or other damage; and documenting and investigating any inconsistencies.
Counting of the ballots include feeding each one into electronic scanners that tabulate their results. Some circumstances require manual counts or double-checked tallies.
Every state in the country has rigorous rules about who can participate in the canvass, the order in which votes are processed and which parts are open to the public, including how partisan observers can monitor and intervene in vote-counting.
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What Happens When The Result Are Challenged?
Once every final vote has been included in the end result, the electoral college emerges. Each state wins varying number of electoral college. Generally, the states ward all of their electoral college votes to whoever wins the popular vote and this is confirmed after meetings on 17 December. The Presidency is confirmed when new US Congress meet on January 6 to count the electoral college votes. The Congress confirms new President.
In 2020, Trump refused to agree and rallied supporters to march to US Capitol, as the Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden’s victory. He urged his Vice-President, Mike Pence, to reject the results – but Pence refused.
The electoral reforms have made it harder for lawmakers to object to certified results sent to them from individual states since 2020. It was also made clear that the vice-president has no power to unilaterally reject electoral votes.
