If the US electorate is as closely divided between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump as polls have suggested, Election Day will soon turn into Election Night, which could then become Election Week.
The process of translating the collective will of the nation’s voters into a mandate for the 47th US president is anything but simple, in part because there’s no such thing as a national election in the US. Instead, there are 51 different presidential elections held the same day, one in each state and the District of Columbia. Each one follows its own rules on where, when and how ballots are cast, which can impact when they count votes and report results. The way votes are tabulated can also produce so-called mirages, the appearance that a candidate has a lead somewhere which proves illusory.