Why we might not know the final US election result for days

Many had expected to get a clear picture of who is going to win the presidential race by now — Republican incumbent President Donald Trump or his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Although the two contenders have won their respective stronghold states, the contest trickles down to the key battleground states.

With a large number of postal ballots still to be counted, we might not know the election result, for days. Since a large number of people have cast their ballots through mail, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the task has become even more humongous.

Also, if there are legal challenges involved, the fight tends to become murkier. Trump in his early morning address at the White House has already said he would go to the Supreme Court over an alleged voting “fraud” and called for the voting to be stopped. The Biden campaign soon hit back, saying it was “ready to deploy” its legal team.

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US electoral system: More complicated than you think

No matter which candidate wins the popular vote, the presidential winner is decided by electoral college votes.

Electoral college is a system in which every state gets a number of electors based on its population. California has the highest number of 55 electoral votes, while Alaska and Delaware have just three votes, each.

There are two states: Maine and Nebraska, which divide up their electoral college votes according to the proportion of votes each candidate receives.

Also Read | From polling, counting, threats and rebukes: How the day unfolded in the US

The electoral college will vote on December 14.

The votes being counted on Election Day were popular votes. In 2016, the then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but she lost the electoral college votes and her bid to the White House. 

Battleground states: Key to the White House

Although the two contenders have retained their stronghold states, the result will ultimately be decided by a few swing states, many of whom haven’t started counting the postal ballots.

So, although trends show a particular candidate’s lead over the other, counting of postal ballots could flip the results.

Among these swing states, Trump has won Florida, while trends show Biden winning Arizona.

There is a razor-thin fight in Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina.