Will we all know who the following president of the USA shall be on Election Day? Specialists say it is unlikely.

Whereas it is not clear when the extremely watched race will formally be known as, specialists say a call won’t be recognized for hours and even days.

The reply hinges largely on how shut the outcomes find yourself being.

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Whereas an official tally will undoubtedly take time as votes are meticulously counted, races are sometimes “known as” for a winner effectively upfront.

“The ultimate outcomes are going to be months, as a result of they must be audited they usually must be canvassed they usually must be signed off on. However when will the American public know who they’ll confidently suppose goes to be our subsequent president? That each one is dependent upon the margin, proper?” Noah Praetz, president of The Elections Group and former director of elections for Prepare dinner County, advised NBC Chicago.

For this election, all eyes shall be on a set of “swing states” within the U.S., which embody a few of Illinois’ closest neighbors.

“I will let you know this, my sense is that a lot of the swing states are going to have the ability to have counted preliminarily at the least all of their ballots, definitely by noon Wednesday,” Praetz mentioned. “Arizona is a little bit of an outlier, however they rely much more on mail balloting and people issues simply take a bit bit longer than doing quantity. So I believe Wednesday can be an excellent time to have a way of issues.”

How shut the outcomes are will even play a job within the authorized fallout following Election Day.

“I believe the issue actually in 2020 within the litigation was that they could not present that even when they may show their allegations that it could change the election outcome … They did not have an effect on sufficient votes to alter the election outcome and that has to do with the scale of the margin of victory for [President Joe Biden] in 2020,” mentioned Professor Michael Kang of the Northwestern College Faculty of Legislation. “So I believe trying ahead to this election one actually essential variable is the margin of distinction between the candidates. If now we have an affordable measurement margin between the candidates it is actually onerous for the dropping candidate to problem that outcome.”

Nonetheless, Kang mentioned what occurs on election evening might play a job within the days that comply with.

“That is going to take a number of days, but when Trump declares himself the winner on election evening it places a ton of stress on the method,” he mentioned.

Whereas it’s not uncommon for outcomes to take time in a presidential race, 2024 will see some modifications that would delay solutions for voters.

“That is going to be Election Week, not Election Day,” mentioned Democratic strategist Peter Giangreco.

Adjustments to voter ID legal guidelines and the early voting course of in North Carolina might sluggish vote counts.

In the meantime, legal guidelines in key swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania imply clerks are unable to course of mail-in ballots previous to Election Day. In 2020, these states had been determined by roughly 20,000 and 80,000 votes, respectively.

“In different states, they’ll open them up, they’ll confirm them. They will flatten them out, so all they must do is run them by means of the scanners. In Pennsylvania, they can not even contact them,” Giangreco mentioned. “So, we’re in all probability Friday or Saturday earlier than we all know Pennsylvania.”

In response to Dr. Kevin Boyle, chair of the historical past division for Northwestern College, if the race is not known as on Election Day it definitely would not be a primary for presidential election historical past.

“There are loads of tales of presidential candidates simply going to mattress not understanding whether or not they had received the presidency or not,” Boyle mentioned.

In 2020, it took 4 days earlier than President Joe Biden was formally known as the winner. In 2000, outcomes hinged on simply 537 votes in Florida, with networks calling the state for Al Gore, then George Bush earlier than ruling the race “too near name.”

“I do need individuals to not freak out concerning the election as a result of truly we have gotten higher at working these elections than we did in 2000,” Kang mentioned. “There isn’t any comparability to how effectively elections are run immediately and the way professionally they’re run immediately as in comparison with 25 years in the past.”

Past delays in vote counts, specialists additionally say authorized challenges are possible.

Sharon McMahon, a podcast host and former educator referred to as “America’s Authorities Trainer,” mentioned there are a “very, very massive myriad of lawsuits which are already in course of and are going to be filed.”

“There are already over 100 lawsuits within the works associated to the election, and there may be completely extra which are on the desks of attorneys. They’re simply ready to plug in the fitting particulars and ready to file these,” McMahon mentioned. “If we expect there have been 60-plus lawsuits within the post-2020 election, there’s in all probability going to be double that on this election.”

So what would it not take to search out out outcomes sooner? All of it comes all the way down to the Midwest, Giangreco mentioned.

“Provided that [Donald] Trump wins Wisconsin or Michigan,” Giangreco mentioned. “If he wins both these states, it is in all probability over with. And if we all know these states on Wednesday, that’ll in all probability be it. I believe the most definitely path for Kamala Harris to the presidency is the blue wall states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania.”

Whether or not that can occur is unclear.

“That is what it comes all the way down to: If the polls are proper and issues are even, there is a huge benefit for Harris on the bottom, particularly within the blue wall states, and I believe that is her ticket to win. If there’s the response bias that we did see in 2016 and we did see 2020, the place the polls undercount Trump voters, then you possibly can be trying that Trump’s actually up 4 or 5 factors in all these states, and it will be an electoral landslide for Trump, and perhaps even a well-liked vote win. So both the polls are proper and Harris’s subject operation goes to win it or the polls are fallacious, and it will be an excellent evening for Trump.”

To trace stay Illinois election outcomes Tuesday — and past — from across the state, bookmark this web page on NBCChicago.com and the NBC Chicago app.