The eyes of the world will be on the US on November 3 (local time) for what is set to be one of the most bitterly divisive presidential elections in modern history.
But the way this election has played out, the global audience and US voters may be left not knowing whether incumbent Donald Trump or rival Joe Biden will be the next occupant of the Oval Office on the night.
About 92 million people – more than two-thirds of the entire 2016 vote – have already cast their ballots, while mail-in voting is also hitting highs as people seek to avoid Election Day crowds during a coronavirus pandemic that has already killed more than 230,000 people in the country.
The challenges of tabulating those ballots may mean a final result for the election is delayed by days or even weeks, and it has become a key battleground for the Democrats and Republicans.
Which votes will count?
Though Republicans are narrowing the gap when it comes to early voting, largely the pre-election turnout is estimated to heavily favour the Democrats, while most voters on November 3 are expected to be casting a ballot for Mr Trump.
Republicans, and Mr Trump's campaign have been emphasising the alleged sanctity of Election Day and the need for an immediate result, claiming without evidence that mail-in ballots and early voting is rife with fraud.
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Mr Trump said he's preparing for legal challenges to the counting of mail and absentee votes in Pennsylvania. Speaking to reporters in Charlotte ahead of a rally in North Carolina, Mr Trump said: "We're going in the night of — as soon as the election is over — we're going in with our lawyers."
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Supreme Court in recent days for not blocking the counting of late-arriving ballots for days after Election Day.
However, the conservative-leaning court also recently blocked a bid by Democrats to allow mail-in votes, postmarked by Election Day, to be received up to six days after the election in Wisconsin.
And Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, appointed to the court amid great controversy during Mr Trump's presidency, appeared to echo Mr Trump's demand for a result on election night – regardless of how many actual ballots remained uncounted.
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States that require mail-in ballots to be returned by the Election Day, Mr Kavanaugh wrote in his concurring opinion, "want to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after Election Day and potentially flip the results of an election."
But those announcements are in no way official – they are projections made by national broadcast networks and wire services, based on how partial results compare to historical outcomes, not by the states themselves, which typically take weeks before certifying elections.
So when will we know?
Long story short: it's unclear, but barring an extremely tight race, a result will probably be called – at least as an estimate – on election night (about mid-afternoon AEDT on Wednesday, November 4).
US electoral results typically take a long time to finalise, but what makes this race even more uncertain is the battle over early and mail-in voting, the bitter divide between Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and Mr Trump's consistent coyness about conceding defeat if the results don't favour him.
Even if Republican attempts to stymie the counting of mail-in ballots are fruitless, the counting could take weeks, particularly given the relatively large voter turnout expected this year.
Legal suits by Mr Trump or by the Democrat opposition would be unlikely to be resolved quickly and could tarnish the next occupant of the Oval Office with an oily sheen of illegitimacy – regardless of when and why a result is called.
With AP and CNN.
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