Election Day is Tuesday, and Bucks County is at center stage.
While candidates make their final campaign stops across Pennsylvania this week, voters are preparing to cast their ballot. Some have already done so through mail-in and on-demand voting.
Here’s a preview what you can expect.
When will we know who the next president is?
If this year is anything like the last general election, it could take days for elections officials to tally all of the votes across the country. In 2020, the Associated Press didn’t call the race for President Joe Biden until the Saturday morning after Election Day.
The first batch of unofficial vote results reported after polls close will likely be published around 8 p.m. Election Day.
Results from later in the night are to be updated periodically by elections officials and are expected to be a mix of mail votes and votes cast in person on Election Day. Once the vote counting stretches into the next day and beyond, the vote results are once again expected to come mostly from mail ballots.
With that said, candidates have historically conceded the race well before all the votes are tallied.
When do polls open and close on Election Day?
Polls in Pennsylvania are to be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5. As long as you are in line by 8 p.m., you are to be allowed to vote.
You can use an an online search tool from the state government to learn where your designated polling place is located.
How long does it take for a presidential candidate to concede?
In modern history, for the most part, it doesn’t take too long to declare a winner of the presidential election, with the losing candidate commonly conceding shortly after Election Day.
The tradition of concessions started in 1896, when Democrat William Jennings Bryan conceded to Republican William McKinley two days after the election.
According to National Geographic, Bryan sent a telegram to McKinley congratulating him and saying, “We have submitted the issue to the American people and their will is law.”
Since that point, as reported by USA TODAY, most candidates have conceded within a day or two of the election.
For example, in 2012, Republican Mitt Romney conceded to President Barack Obama during the early hours of Wednesday, Nov. 7, the morning after the election.
In 2016, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton conceded to former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Nov. 9, the day after the election.
Is a concession required to declare a winner?
While a concession has become a common courtesy, per National Geographic, it is not a formal part of the election process and there are no legal consequences if a candidate chooses not to concede.
Additionally, a concession is not legally binding, as seen during the 2000 election when Democratic candidate Al Gore conceded to Republican George W. Bush. Soon after, his concession was rescinded as the results were too close to call, according to history.com.
Weeks of legal battles and the recounting of votes in Florida ended with a controversial decision in the Supreme Court and Gore ultimately conceded to Bush again 36 days after the election.
The 2020 election
During the 2020 election, the results were declared four days after Election Day, which was Nov. 3.
On Jan. 7, 2021, following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Trump acknowledged the fact that President Joe Biden would be inaugurated in the coming weeks saying, “a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th.”
As for the upcoming election, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that 30% of voters believe that Trump, if necessary, would not accept the results and concede once the votes have been certified.
Who’s going to win the presidential election?
The last two months worth of national polls have shown Vice President Kamala Harris in the lead for the presidency, but that lead has shrunk week to week as Trump has been gaining ground and taken the lead in most of the seven crucial swing states likely to determine the race.
Although most states consistently vote blue or red such as the 38 states that voted for the same party over and over between 2000 and 2016, some lean differently in every election. These battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin are swinging so close that it can really go either way.
Want to cast your vote before Election Day? On-demand voting available till Friday
Bucks County voters now have until Friday to complete the on-demand voting process following a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign this week. The original deadline was Tuesday at 5 p.m.
On-demand voting is essentially voting by mail, but requesting, filling out and returning the mail ballot in one stop instead of mailing the ballot back or returning it to one of 11 drop boxes currently available in Bucks County.
But be aware, it could take a few hours for you to complete the process.
Bucks County voters can cast on-demand ballots at these locations:
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Bucks County Administration Building at 55 E. Court St. in Doylestown.
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Lower Bucks Government Services Building at 7321 New Falls Road in Levittown.
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Upper Bucks Government Services Building at 261 California Road in Quakertown.
Lacey Latch is the development reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer. She can be reached at LLatch@gannett.com. Additional reporting by Amanda Wallace for NorthJersey.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: When will we know who the next president is?
