This article dives into the lengthy process behind finalizing U.S. presidential election results and explains why we often don’t know the official outcome on Election Day itself. While media organizations “call” races based on incoming data and projections, these are not the official results. Officially, the winner isn’t confirmed until mid-December, when electors in each state cast their Electoral College votes. This time gap exists due to the need for state-level certification and the variations in how each state counts its votes. For example, some states allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted days later, causing further delays.

Additionally, the article touches on the Electoral College system, which allocates a different number of electors per state and isn’t based solely on population size. This can lead to discrepancies in representation, where smaller states have proportionally more voting power per elector than larger ones. News organizations analyze trends and historical voting data to predict results, but the actual vote certification doesn’t happen until weeks later.

What do you think about this process? Does the Electoral College seem like an effective system, or do you think it should be reformed? How do you feel about news organizations “calling” races before results are certified? Let me know your thoughts.