By dawn on November 4, 2016, Americans knew their next president would be Donald Trump. Four years before that, Barack Obama’s re-election was confirmed shortly after midnight when victory in Virginia gave him the required Electoral College votes.
But, as sunrise approaches in the US on November 4, 2020, there is still no clear winner.
Why? Close races and the sheer number of postal ballots mean Americans face a days-long wait for the final outcome. Even then, legal challenges could delay things further.
Ballots sent in by post have become the focus of this election simply because of the number of voters who chose this method. In 2016, 33 million votes were cast by mail. This year, about 64 million postal votes were cast – although some states have yet to give final counts.
Many states made voting by post available for the first time because of the risk posed by voting in person amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more people in the US than anywhere else.
The millions of votes mailed in before Election Day are slowing the calculation of results for both practical and procedural reasons.
Voting in person differs from state to state but in some places it is done electronically, while elsewhere it’s on a paper ballot that can be quickly sorted, tabulated and counted.
By contrast, postal ballots require envelopes to be opened and signatures to be checked, which means they take longer to tabulate.
And while some states processed postal ballots as they were received before Election Day, meaning they were reported alongside those cast on November 3, others started only after polls closed on Tuesday night.
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US President Donald Trump speaks during election night in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP -
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks at a drive-in election night event as Dr. Jill Biden looks on at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. AFP -
Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden watch election results outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. AFP -
US Vice President Mike Pence speaks flanked by US President Donald Trump during election night in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP -
Supporters pose with U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, center, following his victory speech after winning another term in office, in Columbia, S.C. AP Photo -
Biden supporter Lala Walker reacts to early election results in Houston, Texas. REUTERS -
President Donald Trump supporter Loretta Oakes reacts while watching returns in favor of Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, at a Republican election-night watch party, in Las Vegas. AP Photo -
People gather to watch results in the presidential election on a screen in Times Square in New York, New York. EPA -
Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director of the Milwaukee election commission is escorted by police from the central count location where absentee ballots were being counted carrying the final count in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. AFP -
Election officials count absentee ballots in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. AFP -
Los Angeles Police Department officers form a line in front of demonstrators during the 2020 Presidential election in Los Angeles, California. Bloomberg -
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, speaks during a news conference at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. Bloomberg -
A woman poses for a photo during an election night watch party organized by a group called "Villagers for Trump" in The Villages, Florida. AFP -
People celebrate a win for incumbent candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at Graham's election night watch party in Columbia, South Carolina. AFP -
Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden worry as they watch the election results unfold on a giant screen in a square near the White House in Washington, DC. AFP -
People react as they watch early results on T.V as they gather at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House during Election Day in Washington. Reuters -
Martina Brown celebrates after being the last voter to cast her ballot at a polling station inside Knapp Elementary School on Election Day in Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin. Reuters -
A Code Enforcement officer asks to a supporter to stop placing US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence campaign signs in the limits of a polling station during the 2020 US presidential election in Palm Beach, Florida. Reuters -
Democratic congressional candidate Ilhan Omar speaks at the DFL election night watch party in St. Paul, Minnesota. Reuters -
Republican US Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is joined by his wife Elaine Chao as he speaks at a press conference following his projected senate race victory at the Omni Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. EPA -
Cairo Messenger newspaper publisher and editor Randy Fine, center, calls out election results as Steve Reagan writes them on the board on the front wall of the newspaper for the voters gathered in the street in Cairo, Georgia. AFP -
Electoral workers at curbside voting in St. Charles County for voters who have coronavirus disease during Election Day in Missouri. Reuters -
A election worker collects mail-in ballots at the Clark County election office in Las Vegas, Nevada. EPA -
A woman wears a mask depicting US President Donald Trump at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC. EPA -
Biden supporters face off a Trump supporter outside of a polling site, on Election Day in Houston, Texas. Reuters -
Florida election results are displayed on a screen in Black Lives Matter Plaza during the 2020 Presidential election in Washington, DC. Bloomberg -
First timer voter Jessica Henderson shows her "I Voted!" sticker after casting her ballot in-person on Election Day outside the Ruben F. Salazar Park recreation center, an official vote centre in East Los Angeles. AP Photo -
Carolyn Fieles, left, Suzy Meredith-Orr, Frieda Wallison, and Judy Dunn open ballots in the Pitkin County Administration Building on Election Day in Aspen, Colorado. AP -
Election workers organise ballots at the Multnomah County Elections Division Tuesday in Portland, Oregon. AP Photo -
A supporter for Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) looks on during an Election Night party at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta In Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia. AFP -
Volunteers gather at Detroit Branch NAACP Tuesday evening before polls closed in Detroit, Michigan. EPA -
People gather in Times Square as they await election results in New York City. AFP -
A woman helps an elderly voter put on headphone to follow directions as she casts her ballot at the Salazar Park polling location in Los Angeles, California. EPA
Then, there is the problem that some votes are still coming in, despite the polls having closed. The Supreme Court has ruled that postal ballots will be accepted up to three days after the election as long as the postmark is on or before November 3.
President Donald Trump and his Republican party have vowed mount legal challenges on the eligibility of such votes, raising the prospect of further delays to the election result.
Mr Trump repeated the threat in a speech claiming victory overnight, even though results from key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina had yet to become clear.
Both Mr Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, have more than 200 Electoral College votes but are still short of 270 needed to win.
The result in Pennsylvania, with 20 Electoral College votes, could be the most belated as mail-in ballots were only opened on Election Day and counting was stopped overnight, unlike some states where officials pressed on to get the results out as quickly as possible
