US election night: Potential early results from key states

Thirty minutes later, voting will end in North Carolina, and at 8 PM Eastern Time, polls will close in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Nevada is the last key state to finish voting, which concludes at 10 PM Eastern Time.

Besides the presidential election, residents of all 50 states will vote for their congressmen, 34 senators, and governors in 11 states. In 10 states, referendums will be held on guaranteeing the right to abortion, and in five states, on the legalization of recreational marijuana and psychedelics.

Harris's team reported to journalists on Monday that if the differences between candidates are not very small, the outcome of the elections in Georgia, North Carolina, and Michigan may be known already on Tuesday evening and after midnight Eastern Time, also in Wisconsin. If any candidate wins in three states, they will have an almost guaranteed victory. In the case of a tight contest in key states, like in 2020, determining the winner may take until Thursday or even longer.

In 2020, the outcome in the US took four days to determine, partly due to a record number of mail-in votes. The victory was decided by 80,000 votes in three states. If this year's polls are correct, this scenario may repeat, as the differences between candidates were within the margin of error.

This year, more than 77 million people voted before Election Day, either by mail or in person. While this is 23 million fewer than in the pandemic year of 2020, it still represents almost half of the votes cast that year. Experts expect a high turnout. About 244 million voters are eligible to participate in the elections, though not all are registered. In many states, registration can even be done on Election Day.