(Adnkronos) – From our midnight, with the first results from Indiana and Kentucky, until 6 a.m., with those of Alaska and Hawaii, on Wednesday, this is how long the long marathon of the American election night will last, with the polls closing at different times in the states crossed by 6 different time zones. And it is not certain that at the end of the long marathon the name of the winner will be known, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
Indeed, it is very unlikely that this will happen, considering how the polls continue to describe the duel as a head-to-head to the last vote, although it is not expected that it will be necessary to wait five days, as happened four years ago because the counting procedures of the various states were not suitable to cope with the very high number of postal votes arrived in the middle of the pandemic.
High percentages of early and postal voting are expected again this year, but many states have updated procedures to speed up times. At this time, the American media continue to publish the electoral maps of the USA, with the many, but less populous, red states, that is, given as safe for Trump – which also includes Iowa where, according to a weekend poll, Harris would have passed ahead – and those, smaller in number, blue, considered safe for the Democrat.
According to CNN’s calculations, based on this map, Harris could count on 226 electoral votes and Trump on 219, and the two candidates would be missing 44 and 51 electoral votes respectively to reach the magic number of 270 votes to have the majority in the Electoral College. Votes that will have to be won in the seven key states, in yellow on the map. So here in detail is the closing time of the polls in these states where the decisive game for the White House is played and, to get your bearings, the time when the Associated press – which traditionally releases the results – gave the first projections and then proclaimed the winner four years ago.
GEORGIA (16 electoral votes)
With polls scheduled to close at 7 p.m. local time, at one o’clock in Italy, it will be the first of the key states from where the first data will arrive. In 2020, the first results were announced twenty minutes after the polls closed in the state, which was formally awarded to Biden only on November 19, 16 days after the vote, when the Democrat had already reached 270 electoral votes and won the presidential election.
NORTH CAROLINA (16 electoral votes)
Half an hour later, at 7.30 pm, half past one from us, the first data will also arrive from the Sun Belt state, where the Democrats have won the presidential elections only twice since 1968. The state continues to be competitive however, with Trump winning in 2020 by just one point. In 2020, the first results were announced at 7.42pm, and the Republican’s victory on November 13th. This year, voting and ballot counting procedures could be slowed down in the counties most affected by Hurricane Helene.
PENNSYLVANIA (19 electoral votes)
The polls close at 8 pm local time, 2 am in Italy, in the key state considered the most crucial of all, the one where you can’t lose to win the White House. In 2020, the first results were announced nine minutes after the polls closed, but only on November 7 did Biden win, with a margin of just 80,000 votes, his home state and his electoral vote booty that delivered him the presidency.
MICHIGAN (15 electoral votes)
With the state divided into two time zones, the polls will close between 8pm and 9pm Washington time. two and three in the morning in Italy. Four years ago, the first results were announced at 8.08pm, and Biden was declared the winner on the afternoon of the following day, retaking the Mid West state that was part of the so-called “Blue Wall” until Trump’s decisive surprise victory in 2016, the group of states that voted Democrat in the presidential elections for almost 30 years.
ARIZONA (11 electoral votes)
At 9 pm Washington time, three in the morning in Italy, the polls also close in Arizona. Usually the first results in the state arrive an hour after all the polls have closed, and four years ago they were announced at 10:02 PM. Biden was declared the winner at 2:51 the next day, the second Democrat to win the state in nearly 70 years.
WISCONSIN (10 electoral votes)
At three in the morning our time, the polls also close in this state which, like Michigan and Pennsylvania, was part of the “Blue Wall” before Trump’s victories in 2016. The first results were reported four years ago at 9:09 PM and Biden was declared the winner at 2:16 PM the following day, with a margin of victory of less than one percent.
NEVADA (6 electoral votes)
It will be the last of the key states to close the polls, at 10pm Washington time, 4am in Italy. State election law does not allow results to be released until the last person in line has voted. Four years ago the first results were released at 11:41 PM Washington time, and Biden’s victory was proclaimed on November 7, the day he won the presidency.
