Politics
When Will The US Election Result Be Announced?
It could take days, weeks or even months, depending on what happens.
What usually happens?
US presidential elections are not won by the national popular vote. The winner in each state collects its electoral college votes – and needs a total of 270 to take the White House
In most elections the result is clear – although not officially confirmed – by the end of the night. Major American media outlets “call” each state for one of the candidates. While not based on the final vote count, that projection is almost invariably accurate.
This means an accurate tally of electoral college votes can be made and a winner declared. In 2016, that happened at 2.30am in Washington when Trump reached the required 270.
Why is that not happening this time?
Mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic, large numbers of voters – about 68% of the total, compared with 34% in 2016 – cast their ballots early, including by post.
Counting postal votes is slower because voter and witness signatures and addresses must be checked, and ballots smoothed out before being fed into counting machines. Some states start that verification process long before election day, meaning the count itself can get under way as soon as polls close. Others, however, do not allow that.
Which states are we talking about?
Five states have yet to be called: Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Alaska. Several news organizations, including the Associated Press and Fox News’ decision desk, have called Arizona for Joe Biden. The Trump campaign is arguing, however, that call was made too early.
Pennsylvania officials have already said their count may not be finished by the end of Wednesday.Alaska will end up in the Republican column with near certainty.
The Democratic challenger is narrowly ahead in Nevada, with only Democratic-leaning late postal ballots left to tally. Officials have said no more results will be released in Nevada until midday on Thursday.
In North Carolina, while Trump is the clear favourite, the state accepts postal ballots until 12 November – although that is expected to make little difference.
What else is complicating matters?
Roughly half of all states will accept postal votes that arrive after election day as long as they carry a postmark of no later than 3 November, so postal delays may mean some ballots are not processed until days later: Pennsylvania has said results will not be considered complete until the deadline of Friday.
There has also reportedly been an increase in the number of provisional ballots cast by people who asked for a postal vote but then decided to go to the polling station in person instead. These need careful checking to make sure no one has voted twice.
In the 2000 race, the Democratic candidate, Al Gore, famously lost Florida by just more than 500 votes out of a total of nearly 6m, costing him the election. After a disputed recount and a supreme court ruling, George W Bush was declared the winner.
More than 300 lawsuits have already been filed over alleged breaches of electoral law in the 2020 election, according to reports, and more can be expected over accusations of postal voting irregularities and changes to voting rules due to the pandemic.
Recounts have to be a strong possibility in one or more of the key swing states, and Trump said in his first post election address late on Tuesday that he would be going to the supreme court in an attempt to stop ballot counting. While it is far from clear how feasible such a move would be, anything like it could delay a final vote for weeks.
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Ifako-Ijaiye To Become Most Educated In Lagos, Lawmaker Vows
A Lagos lawmaker, Hon. Adewale Temitope, has vowed to ensure the fulfilment of his promise to make Ifako-Ijaiye the most educated part of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria.
Adewale, who represents Ifako-Ijaiye constituency 1 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, says he has distributed over 4000 JAMB forms and another 1,200 GCE forms to students within the constituency with free tutorial classes for a total of 8716 candidates for the examinations.
Speaking while giving out 250 GCE forms to another set of beneficiaries on Wednesday, the lawmaker said he had facilitated the admission of 857 students into various tertiary institutions across the country while 49 outstanding students are beneficiaries of his scholarship scheme.
“Currently, 615 adults are in adult education programmes. It is exciting to note that out of this figure, 50 outstanding adults have been registered for the NECO exams.
“We have also renovated the Ogundimu Primary School, the Fagba Grammar School (junior) complex and the Bishop Oluwole Complex School.
“Beside these, we have given out thousands of school materials and books to pupils and students and facilitated employment for qualified residents of the constituency. These are all done under the Adewale Temitope Adedeji Educational Initiatives (ATA-EI) which has metamorphosed into a foundation,” he said.
Stressing the need to make education a major means for societal growth, the lawmaker added: “I believe every student deserves access to the tools they need to succeed and these GCE slips are a small step towards ensuring that every child can reach his full potential.
“In Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 1, our goal remains the same – to make this local government the most educated in Nigeria in the near future. We are on the right track to achieve this and I once again assure you that I remain committed to this goal.”
He advised the beneficiaries of the GCE forms to be serious with their studies and be successful in their exams.
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