Updated November 7, 2020, 6:52 p.m.
The United States voted and on Saturday, November 7th, the winner was finally determined: Democrat Joe Biden overtook incumbent Donald Trump and won the election. You can find all the results of the 2020 presidential election here.
On November 3rd, the USA elected their new president, a few days later it was finally clear: Joe Biden won the election. It was one to the end Head to head race.
All results, reactions and the current status: Follow the US election 2020 in our live ticker
Distribution of electors
When were the first projections for the 2020 US election made?
The first Projections were made on November 4th at 1:00 a.m. Central European Time. States like Indiana and Kentucky reported the first numbers, but they were not very meaningful. According to the US site 270towin.com, the polling stations in the two states included midnight our time.
One 02:00 am followed forecasts for Vermont, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Alabama. An hour later forecast the broadcasters the electors from the states New York, New Mexico and Indiana.
The Projections for the Swing States were so tight that, for example, in Florida only after 6:00 a.m. first forecasts were dared. A final result for other states like Pennsylvania didn’t come until later this week since the Postal voting votes were only counted gradually.
When will there be an official result?
When would the winner the presidential election? That was not clear for a long time – on Saturday, November 7th, Around 5:30 p.m. our time it finally happened.
In 2016, Donald Trump was not finally the winner until 8:30 a.m. the day after our time was chosen. Barack Obama was the clear winner of his second triumph at 5:15 a.m.
The decision for one or the other candidate, the states have Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania in particular was ultimately decisive.
How many electors does the winner need?
In total, citizens in the 50 states elect 538 electors. The size of the state determines the number of electors. California has 55 electors, Texas 38, Florida and New York 29 each. Voters from Wyoming, Washington, DC or Delaware, for example, only choose three electors.
The winner needs 270 of the total of 538 electors.
Also read: This is how the US electoral system works
When did the polling stations close?
They opened all over the country Polling stations at different times, it went off 11:00 am Central European Time on November 3rd. Each state also closed its polling stations at different times, some states even divided it into different time zones – in the US there are on the mainland four different time zones: Eastern Time, Central Time, Mountain Time und Pacific Time.
Here is an overview of when and where the polling stations closed:
- November 4th, 12:00 am *: Eastern time zone in Indiana and Kentucky
- November 4th, 1:00 a.m. *: New Hampshire (selected locales), Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Vermont, East Coast time zones in Florida, Central time zones in Indiana and Kentucky
- November 4th, 01:30 a.m. *: North Carolina, Ohio und West Virginia
- November 4th, 2:00 a.m. *: North Dakota (selected 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 a.m. *: Arkansas
- November 4th, 3:00 a.m. *: North Dakota (übrige Lokale), Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin und Wyoming, Central-Zeitzone in Michigan, Mountain-Zeitzone in Kansas, South Dakota und Texas
- November 4th, 4:00 a.m. *: Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Mountain-Zeitzone in Idaho und Oregon
- November 4th, 5:00 a.m. *: California, Hawaii and Washington, Pacific time zones in Idaho and Oregon
- November 4th, 6:00 a.m. *: Alaska time zone in Alaska
- November 4th, 7:00 a.m. *: Hawaii-Aleut Time Zone in Alaska
* all times given in Central European Time
Also read:
Sources used:
- 270towin.com: 2020 Poll Closing Times
- welt.de: Calendar for the US election – The way to the White House
The votes have been cast, now it is counted. But how does the indirect election of the President of the United States work and why can one become a US President without a majority of the electoral vote? All information in the video.
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