Updated on 07/11/2020 at 18:52
The United States has voted and since Saturday, November 7th, the winner has finally been certain: Democrat Joe Biden has overtaken incumbent Donald Trump and won the election. All results for the 2020 presidential election can be found here.
On November 3rd, the USA elected their new president, a few days later it was finally clear:
All results, reactions and the current status: Follow the 2020 US election in our live ticker
Distribution of electors
When were the first projections for the 2020 US election?
The first Projections were made on November 4th at 1:00 a.m. Central European Time. states like Indiana and Kentucky reported the first figures, which were still not very meaningful. The polling stations closed, according to the US site 270towin.com in the two states midnight our time.
One 02:00 a.m followed predictions to Vermont, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Alabama. An hour later forecast the broadcasters the electors from the states New York, New Mexico and Indiana.
Die extrapolations for the Swing States were so tight that, for example, in Florida only after 06:00 first forecasts were dared. A final result for other states like Pennsylvania didn’t come until later in the week, as the Absentee Votes were only gradually counted.
When will there be an official result?
When would he winner the presidential election? That wasn’t clear for a long time – on Saturday November 7th around 5:30 p.m. our time it was finally time.
2016 stand
Die decision the states have one or the other candidate Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania brought – above all Pennsylvania was decisive in the end.
The votes have been cast, now the counting begins. But how does the indirect election of the President of the United States work and why can one become US President without a majority of the electoral vote? All information in the video.
How many electors does the winner need?
In total, the citizens of the 50 states elect 538 electors. The size of the state determines the number of electors. So California has 55 electors, Texas 38 and Florida and New York 29 each. Voters, on the other hand, from Wyoming, Washington, DC or Delaware, for example, choose only three electors.
The winner needs 270 out of a total of 538 voters.
Also read: This is how the US electoral system works
When did the polling stations close?
All over the country they opened polling stations at different times, off we went 11:00 a.m. Central European Time on November 3rd. Each state also closed its polling stations at different times, some states even divided it into the different time zones – in the US there is on the mainland four different time zones: Eastern Time, Central Time, Mountain Time und Pacific Time.
Here is an overview of when the polling stations closed and where:
- November 4, 00:00*: Eastern time zone in Indiana and Kentucky
- November 4, 01:00*: New Hampshire (select locations), Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Vermont, East Coast time zone in Florida, Central time zones in Indiana and Kentucky
- November 4, 1:30 am*: North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia
- November 4, 02:00*: North Dakota (select locations), New Hampshire (other locations), Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Washington DC, Eastern time zone in Michigan, Central time zone in Florida, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas
- November 4, 2:30 am*: Arkansas
- November 4, 03:00*: North Dakota (very local), Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin and Wyoming, Central zone in Michigan, Mountain zone in Kansas, South Dakota and Texas
- November 4, 04:00*: Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Mountain time zone in Idaho and Oregon
- November 4, 05:00*: California, Hawaii and Washington, Pacific time zones in Idaho and Oregon
- November 4, 06:00*: Alaska-Zeitzone in Alaska
- November 4, 07:00*: Hawaii-Aleutian time zone in Alaska
*all times given in Central European Time
Also read:
Sources used:
- 270towin.com: 2020 Poll Closing Times
- welt.de: Diary for the US election – the way to the White House