The fairy tale of election victory Why a decision on election night is unlikely
Voters across the country are taking part in the 2024 US presidential election, deciding between Republican candidate Trump and Democratic candidate US Vice President Harris in a hard-fought race.
Image: Keystone/EPA/David Muse
Strict security measures are in place across the country, especially outside polling stations.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Erik S. Lesser
Many polling stations are very busy right from the start.
Image: Keystone
The first result is already known: in a small village, people voted in a tie between Harris and Trump.
Image: Keystone
Poll workers count postal votes.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/Matt Slocum
A graffiti in Philadelphia, the capital of the contested swing state of Pennsylvania, promotes Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Image: Keystone/EPA/David Muse
In many places, long queues formed outside polling stations, as here in the capital Washington D.C.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Gamal Diab
As here in Alaska, people braved sometimes adverse weather conditions.
Image: Keystone/AP/Mark Thiessen
Voters take part in the so-called "early voting" in Atlanta...
Image: Keystone/EPA/Erik S. Lesser
... and queue up in front of the polling stations before sunrise.
Image: Keystone/AP/Carolyn Kaster
A polling station worker in the north of Jackson, Florida, electronically registers a voter in the early morning.
Image: Keystone/AP/ V. Solis
The poll workers have their hands full this Tuesday.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/Chet Strange
Voters cast their ballots in Dearborn, Michigan.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/David Goldman
The owner of this car in Nevada leaves no doubt about his political views.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Caroline Brehman
A voter in Atlanta, Georgia: The outcome of the US election is completely open, a close race is expected.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Erik S. Lesser
Voters across the country are taking part in the 2024 US presidential election, deciding between Republican candidate Trump and Democratic candidate US Vice President Harris in a hard-fought race.
Image: Keystone/EPA/David Muse
Strict security measures are in place across the country, especially outside polling stations.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Erik S. Lesser
Many polling stations are very busy right from the start.
Image: Keystone
The first result is already known: in a small village, people voted in a tie between Harris and Trump.
Image: Keystone
Poll workers count postal votes.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/Matt Slocum
A graffiti in Philadelphia, the capital of the contested swing state of Pennsylvania, promotes Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Image: Keystone/EPA/David Muse
In many places, long queues formed outside polling stations, as here in the capital Washington D.C.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Gamal Diab
As here in Alaska, people braved sometimes adverse weather conditions.
Image: Keystone/AP/Mark Thiessen
Voters take part in the so-called "early voting" in Atlanta...
Image: Keystone/EPA/Erik S. Lesser
... and queue up in front of the polling stations before sunrise.
Image: Keystone/AP/Carolyn Kaster
A polling station worker in the north of Jackson, Florida, electronically registers a voter in the early morning.
Image: Keystone/AP/ V. Solis
The poll workers have their hands full this Tuesday.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/Chet Strange
Voters cast their ballots in Dearborn, Michigan.
Image: Keystone/AP Photo/David Goldman
The owner of this car in Nevada leaves no doubt about his political views.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Caroline Brehman
A voter in Atlanta, Georgia: The outcome of the US election is completely open, a close race is expected.
Image: Keystone/EPA/Erik S. Lesser
Republican Donald Trump is calling for the winner to be announced on election night. However, this is hardly possible for a number of reasons. Trump's own party is also to blame.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- A decision on the winner of the election should be made by 11 p.m. on Tuesday evening, demands Trump.
- However, the polling stations in the two decisive states of Arizona and Nevada are only just closing at 11 pm.
- Other reasons why the count will take longer are the US electoral system and the six time zones from the US East Coast to Hawaii.
- There are fears of unrest the day after the election.
In 2020, Donald Trump announced his victory in the early hours of the morning after election day - although there was no real clarity until days later. The Republican president and his supporters called for "Stop the count" when Trump was still clearly ahead in Pennsylvania, among other places, according to the initial count results. Ultimately, the result tipped in favor of Democrat Joe Biden and to this day Trump and his followers are still clinging to the myth that the Republican was cheated out of the election victory.
Once again, there are few signs that Trump or his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris will quickly be declared the winner. One reason for this is, of course, that it is likely to be really, really close in several of the decisive states, the so-called swing states. And in such a case, significantly more votes will have to be counted until there is clarity.
If it takes longer, this is not a sign of failure, but merely safeguards the integrity of the election, says Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California in Los Angeles. "There's nothing shameful about that."
Trump sowed doubt about the result even before election day
The six time zones from the US East Coast to Hawaii with thousands of constituencies are also a factor that cannot be ignored. It is unrealistic for election officials to "snap their fingers and immediately count 160 million multi-page ballots with dozens of voting decisions on them", says David Becker, election expert and co-author of the book "The Big Truth", which exposed Trump's election lies from 2020.
Trump once again sowed doubt about the result before this election, claiming that a delayed decision was a sign of fraud. "A bunch of corrupt people. They're corrupt people," he said on Sunday in Pennsylvania, without specifying who these corrupt people were. A decision should be made by 9, 10 or 11 p.m. on Tuesday evening, Trump demanded. Yet the polling stations in the two decisive states of Arizona and Nevada are only just closing at 11pm.
Not only Trump, but also other conservatives have been complaining since the last election that the count in the USA is not as fast as in countries such as France or Argentina - and thus fail to recognize that the conditions in the United States are completely different.
These include, for example, the extensive ballot papers and the decentralized system of elections without a federal election commission. In many thousands of different counties, in addition to the presidential election and Congress, votes for state parliaments, municipal representatives, school boards and other positions and voter decisions must be evaluated and then passed on at the same time.
Postal votes may only be counted on election day
The counting of the millions of votes also takes so long because the election workers have to process disputed ballots or ballots that have only been handed out provisionally due to concerns and check their legitimacy. Votes from soldiers stationed abroad or other Americans abroad can often arrive at the last minute. And postal votes often have to be checked at length, which is sometimes only permitted from election day onwards.
One reason why counting is so slow is precisely because of such regulations in the individual states. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two of the most important swing states, there have long been calls for postal votes to be processed before election day so that they can be counted more quickly. However, this has so far been prohibited by law and the Republican-governed states have not wanted to change this.
Traditionally, the Democrats dominate the postal vote, so that until the early hours of the next morning, when the Democrats' postal votes are finally counted, it looks as if the Republicans are in the lead.
The "red mirage" according to the Republican party color or the "blue shift" according to the Democrats' color is what experts called this phenomenon in past elections. Trump and his supporters saw it as a sign of electoral fraud.
Fears of unrest the day after the election
Some of Trump's allies are urging him to push ahead even more aggressively this time and announce his victory quickly. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon recently said the then-president announced his victory at 2.30am after the last election, but should have done so at 11pm.
Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn recently hinted in an interview with the right-wing podcast American Truth Project that there could be riots the day after the election in states where ballots are still being counted because "people just won't put up with it".
Experts and many observers, however, hope that Americans will exercise patience. After all, there is ultimately only one way to find out who has won the presidential election: Waiting until enough votes have been counted - whenever that will be.
