How many days after election day (November 4) is the winner of the Presidential election announced?
It varies from state to state from 1 day to 7 days for the count to be termed "official" and certified by the state government. However, the winner can be determined long before the count is required to be certified. All it takes is for one candidate to get half the votes cast plus 1. Mathematically, at this point, there are not enough uncounted votes to change the result. Consider a simple case of 10 votes. I can stop and determine the winner when I have 6 votes for one candidate and it does not matter what the other 4 votes are. This is how they declare winners in races where the vote is not completely counted. The real case is slightly different than this simple example. The real case involves the difference between the leading and second place positions. When the remaining uncounted votes is less than that difference, it again is mathematically impossible for the second place candidate to win even if all remaining uncounted votes are for the second place candidate. Say candidate A has 1000 votes and candidate B has 500 votes. If there are less than 500 uncounted votes left to count, there is no way for candidate B to win and thus, candidate A is declared the winner even though the count is not completed. When the polls close, the state officials know the total vote count and then start looking for that point where they can declare a winner. Anything before that point in the count where it becomes mathematically impossible to change the outcome, is simply trend analysis and a prediction. In the special case of the president, the popular vote made by the people determines how electoral college votes are cast and it is the electoral college which actually elects the president which is why when Truman ran against Dewey, Dewey was declared the winner based on the popular vote when in fact Truman had the electoral votes to win. There is a famous picture of Truman holding up a newspaper with the bold headline "Dewey Wins!" The thing about electoral votes is it is all or nothing. Each state has a number of electoral votes based on population. In a big state like California, the popular vote can be very close and the winner, if even by only one vote, gets ALL of the electoral votes. Florida became the pivot point for Bush/Gore. When the recount was stopped and the Supreme Court declare Bush the winner, he got the electoral votes which made him president even though the popular vote was for Gore.
March 27th, 2010 at 12:44 am
Usually later that night
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 1:32 am
I could be wrong but I thought it was announced on the day of the election.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 1:42 am
Depends on how many court cases there are demanding recounts (and other such desperate attempts to pull out a victory from defeat).
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 1:47 am
Typically it is that night unless a winner can’t be confirmed due to a very close race..
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 2:21 am
Formally it’s after the electoral college has met. Informally it’s when the vote is counted, which could be anywhere from that night to (as we saw in 2000) 4 weeks.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 2:48 am
they can ussually tell by the end of that night, unless it is super close.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 3:23 am
If it is announced days after, there is a problem!
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 4:05 am
After the re-counts and riots that the democrats keep saying will happen.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 4:20 am
Actually it is whatever day Florida gets done counting. It is not over until Florida counts the ballots a few times.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 4:38 am
On November 4th. Shortly after the polls close on the east cost Obama will be announced as the "President Elect".
Although, I fully expect John McCain to go to the Federal Courts to discount many votes – but this is not the year 2000 and it wont work.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 5:27 am
I live in Florida and we have two time zones. They like to call the winner of the state before us guys in the panhandle vote. Being from Florida I would have to say the winner will probably be announced sometime after the forth recount and two times through the court of appeals.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 6:13 am
Before the polls close in California it will be clear Obama is the next President.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 6:32 am
It varies from state to state from 1 day to 7 days for the count to be termed "official" and certified by the state government. However, the winner can be determined long before the count is required to be certified. All it takes is for one candidate to get half the votes cast plus 1. Mathematically, at this point, there are not enough uncounted votes to change the result. Consider a simple case of 10 votes. I can stop and determine the winner when I have 6 votes for one candidate and it does not matter what the other 4 votes are. This is how they declare winners in races where the vote is not completely counted. The real case is slightly different than this simple example. The real case involves the difference between the leading and second place positions. When the remaining uncounted votes is less than that difference, it again is mathematically impossible for the second place candidate to win even if all remaining uncounted votes are for the second place candidate. Say candidate A has 1000 votes and candidate B has 500 votes. If there are less than 500 uncounted votes left to count, there is no way for candidate B to win and thus, candidate A is declared the winner even though the count is not completed. When the polls close, the state officials know the total vote count and then start looking for that point where they can declare a winner. Anything before that point in the count where it becomes mathematically impossible to change the outcome, is simply trend analysis and a prediction. In the special case of the president, the popular vote made by the people determines how electoral college votes are cast and it is the electoral college which actually elects the president which is why when Truman ran against Dewey, Dewey was declared the winner based on the popular vote when in fact Truman had the electoral votes to win. There is a famous picture of Truman holding up a newspaper with the bold headline "Dewey Wins!" The thing about electoral votes is it is all or nothing. Each state has a number of electoral votes based on population. In a big state like California, the popular vote can be very close and the winner, if even by only one vote, gets ALL of the electoral votes. Florida became the pivot point for Bush/Gore. When the recount was stopped and the Supreme Court declare Bush the winner, he got the electoral votes which made him president even though the popular vote was for Gore.
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 6:37 am
next day after the election day but later if the recount is needed to determine the winner
References :
March 27th, 2010 at 7:22 am
its on the same day smart one. im guessing u didnt pay attention to history class
just kidding, but yea its the same day of election day
References :