US Midterm Elections: Why Results May Take Days to Finalize

Millions of Americans voted on Tuesday, November 3, in the midterm elections to choose a new composition of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as governors in 36 states. The vote is being closely watched worldwide because it will shape the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.

Recent polls indicate that Democrats are expected to regain control of the House. In the Senate, the race is tight and will be decided in a small group of states where Republicans concentrated their final campaign push to prevent the opposition to Trump from holding a majority in both chambers of Congress.

“The vote is being closely watched worldwide because it will shape the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.”

Results may take time to emerge because the United States electoral system is decentralized. There is no single body comparable to Brazil's Superior Electoral Court to organize the election and release the vote count. Rules for the election and vote counting vary among the states, which are responsible for conducting the elections.

States can be divided into three major groups according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan organization of state lawmakers, based on when mail-in ballots can begin to be processed. Processing involves two steps: verifying the ballots, which may include checking the voter's signature, and opening the envelopes.

To address the information gap and delays in publishing results, the American press makes projections of winners in specific races. These projections rely on information collected at polling stations, statistical analyses, mathematical models, historical data from previous elections, and expert assessments.

The outcome will determine whether Trump's opposition gains a majority in both houses of Congress during the remainder of his presidency.