Hundreds of millions of Americans will go to the polls today to decide whether Trump or Harris will be president for the next four years. But it’s unclear when the results will be announced, as many factors will determine how the election will be conducted. Each state has its own way of implementing the election, from weeks of early voting to strict voter identification laws.
2000: The Longest Election
The 2000 US presidential election took 35 days, the longest in modern history, to declare a winner.
Former US President George W. Bush (left) and Mr. Al Gore in the 2000 debate. (Photo: NBC News)
The contest between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush was marred by a series of logistical issues related to voting, beginning on Election Day, November 7, 2000. These issues included faulty ballot designs, unclear punch holes, allegations of inaccurate counting, and court battles.
The race between the two candidates is fierce and the outcome depends on the vote counting process in Florida.
The networks initially called Gore the winner in Florida, but then backed off and called Bush the winner a few hours later. But the networks again backed off.
The vote count in Florida was unclear as the two candidates were only a few hundred votes apart, forcing the state to recount punched ballots and some irregularities were discovered during the recount.
The election seemed to drag on forever. On December 12, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in a presidential election for the first time. In a landmark 5-4 decision, the court ordered Florida to halt its recount, saying the move violated constitutional principles.
The court's decision sealed the victory for Mr. Gore, exactly five weeks after the election began. Mr. Bush was re-elected four years later.
2016: Quick and Easy
Unlike 2000, the 2016 US presidential election was declared early in the morning after Election Day with victory for Mr. Trump.
The AP news agency officially reported the news at about 2:30 a.m. on November 9, 2016, Eastern time.
Four days of counting votes
The COVID-19 pandemic poses many challenges for election officials and voters in the 2020 US Presidential election.
As the U.S. grapples with the airborne virus, states are working to expand voting access in a variety of ways, including establishing or extending early voting and absentee voting.
While this makes it easier for voters to cast their ballots during a pandemic, counting them is another story.
In the 2020 election, a large number of voters (46%) used absentee ballots or voted by mail, leading to a backlog of millions of ballots across the country. This caused delays in reporting results in some swing states. During this time, Mr. Trump and his supporters made numerous allegations of election fraud.
It took four days to count all the votes, with Joe Biden winning on November 7, 2020.
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