As many continue to cast their votes on Election Day for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, or former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in the race for the White House, it could be days before unofficial results are available as poll averages show the two candidates a close race.

When can the 2024 election be scheduled at the earliest?

Election Day has already turned into election week in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic saw a surge in absentee and early voting, leading to significant slowdowns in vote counting and the announcement of election results. It took four days to count enough votes for the important decision to hand the presidency to Joe Biden.

Although the vote count is not expected to be nearly as slow as last time, there is still a chance we won't know the outcome of the presidential race on election night, as pollsters and analysts don't expect the votes to be fully counted On the night of November 5th, predictions about who will win in the key battleground states may not be available for a few days.

However, the earliest indications of how the night will unfold will come shortly after 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time in Georgia on election night and after 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time in North Carolina.

Accordingly The New York TimesIf Harris does well in these states, it could indicate that the result is not just due to the slower-counting so-called “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, if Trump wins the southern battleground states, Harris will still have a plausible path to victory through the “blue wall,” but we'll have to wait longer to find out.

Which states were called?

The Associated Press, which uses a network of “thousands of voters and vote center workers who take feeds, search official government websites for data and electronically add up votes across the country,” is the official source used by major media companies to determine the U.S Elections are results that are achieved when “it is certain that the candidate who is ahead in the count cannot be caught,” according to the AP.

As of Tuesday afternoon, polling stations are still open and no states have been called.

How does the Electoral College affect poll results?

This is because the Electoral College will also play a crucial role in the election results, as a presidential candidate must receive 270 Electoral College votes to win, and winning the nationwide popular vote is no guarantee of success.

This makes the battleground states important because each swing state has multiple Electoral College votes, with Pennsylvania having 19 electoral votes – the most of any swing state. Overall, the Republican Party has won Pennsylvania in 26 presidential elections, while the Democratic Party has won in 20 elections.

When do the polling stations close?

Polling place closing times vary from state to state, county to county and, in some parts of the country, city to city.

However, polls in the seven swing states that will decide the presidential race will close from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Meanwhile, polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern Time in Pennsylvania and most of Michigan, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time in Wisconsin and Arizona and a small portion of northern Michigan, and at 10 p.m. Eastern Time in Nevada.

Who is ahead in the current polls?

Polls have shown that Harris and Trump are in a close fight across the country. According to the 538 poll tracker, Harris is 1.2 points ahead of Trump at 48 percent as of midday Tuesday, to his 46.8 percent.