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DC residents feeling anxious hours before Election Day
Election Day is officially just hours away. FOX 5's Josh Rosenthal spoke to D.C. residents about how they're feeling about the 2024 election.
WASHINGTON - The Associated Press and other decision desks will begin tallying presidential election results the moment polls close, but America may not know whether former president Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris will win until a few days later.
The 2024 contest is extremely tight, especially in the seven swing states, meaning the country may have to wait for key states to count mail-in and absentee ballots before the race is called.
Track live election results here.
On Saturday Nov. 7, 2020, Biden was named president, four days after polls closed.
When will US election results be announced?
"Voters need to know, early and often, that we're probably not going to have results on Election Day [2024]," Danielle Lang of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center told FOX 5 NY. "Good chance we're not going to have results the day after Election Day or even the next day."
Each state has different rules for counting ballots, including Pennsylvania, where elections officials must wait until 7 a.m. ET on Election Day before they can begin to process ballots cast by mail and prepare them to be counted. The release of mail voting results cannot begin until after polls have closed.
"The biggest problem is that, in some states, in particular Pennsylvania, the Republicans in the state legislature have passed a law that requires election officials to wait until Election Day to begin opening and counting all the mail-in early ballots," Paul Schiff Berman, a professor with George Washington University's law school, told FOX 5 NY. "That just slows down the process, obviously."
Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, making it the biggest prize for the presidential candidates. So, if the highly competitive race is close in the Keystone State, as polls show it is, their counting process may hold up the rest of the country.
Overall, votes cast by mail have tended to favor Democrats, ever since the issue of early and mail voting became highly politicized during the 2020 election. This means the Democratic candidate in a competitive contest could take an early lead in the vote count in the initial vote reports after polls close, even though the race may tighten considerably as more votes are tabulated.
When to expect Maryland election results
Results in Maryland will start coming in after polls close at 8pm.
In 2020, only about 8% of votes were reported by midnight on Election Day, but 70% were reported by noon on Wednesday. The New York Times says Maryland's pace of reporting should be similar for the 2024 election.
When to expect Virginia election results
Results in Virginia start coming in after polls close at 7 p.m.
Virginia usually have most votes reported by noon on Wednesday in past elections, according to the New York Times.
In 2020, Virginia was called 36 minutes after the polls closed.
When to expect D.C. election results
Results in D.C. will start coming in after polls close at 8 p.m.
In 2020, about 69 percent of votes were reported by noon Wednesday, according to the New York Times. In the District, each registered voter was mailed a ballot which needs to be postmarked by Election Day - but could arrive ten days later to be counted.
Election Day polls 2024: When will we know the results in the swing states?
As voters head to the polls Tuesday, here's what you need to know about the 2024 election results from seven key swing states, including vote-counting timelines and potential delays.