Americans may not know who wins the presidency on Election Night. Here’s why

Some election officials encourage Americans to be patient as they tally up votes, which varies from state to state because of different vote-counting laws.

In 2020, some states experienced a “red mirage," in which former President Donald Trump appeared to be ahead on election night. Still, as more votes were counted, President Joe Biden closed the gap and eventually overtook the lead.

Trump often uses this instance to falsely claim that the election was stolen from him.

After polling sites have closed, states publish unofficial results that news outlets use to project winners. States don’t declare the winners until all votes have been counted and certified, typically weeks after election night, according to the Washington Post.

In 2020, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada were among the states that took the longest to count votes and are expected to do so again. If the race is close, more states could join that list.

Here’s what you need to know:

Arizona

Despite Fox News and The Associated Press calling Arizona for Biden on election night, a move some have criticized, it can be a while until unofficial tallies are announced.

Arizona allows election officials to process early ballots as soon as they are received. Still, according to the Post, many residents typically wait until Election Day to drop off their mail-in ballots.

Pennsylvania

Officials won’t be allowed to begin counting absentee ballots until 4 a.m. PST/ 7 a.m. EST on Election Day. The process is very laborious and time-consuming.

In 2020, the state didn’t have a clear winner until four days after Election Day.

Nevada

Secretary of State Cisco Aguila advised counties to start tabulating those ballots as soon as the polls open on Election Day instead of when they close, as was done in the past.

The state has been notorious for “slowly” counting votes, which spawned countless memes in 2020. News outlets didn’t report which candidate won the state until five days after the election.

Georgia

Election officials expect vote counting to go faster in Georgia this year. Officials can now process absentee ballots as they arrive and start counting them at 7 a.m. on Election Day.

Experts expect Fulton County, the state’s largest jurisdiction, to take a little longer with vote counting since they are managing a new counting facility this year.

Michigan

Michigan’s unofficial voting results could come in by the end of the day Wednesday at the latest, according to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D).

Wisconsin

Like Pennsylvania, according to Reuters, election officials can’t begin counting votes until the morning of the election, so there could be a delay in reporting the unofficial results.

North Carolina

Election officials can begin removing main-in ballots from their envelopes and feed them into tabulators weeks before Election Day, according to the Post.

While they can start tallying votes, the results can’t be announced until after the polls close at 4:30 p.m. PST/ 7:30 p.m. EST on Election Day.