The recount of the U.S. elections 2024 has already begun with the closing of polling stations on the East Coast, but knowing whether the next U.S. president will be the Democratic Kamala Harris or the Republican Donald Trump will take a little longer: although the media will, barring a surprise, project a winner tonight., the official count will take several more days.
The United States is a country of diverse and long-established democratic traditions, and each state has its own way of conducting the recount. (unlike Spain, where the unified criteria allows for a much more dynamic recount). In addition, the counting of the advance vote, the subdivision into districts, etc., comes into play. procedures and deadlines that end up coming together months after the elections at the Electoral College, the body in charge of certifying all the results and officially proclaiming a president.
How is the recount in the United States, step by step?
Although the media use their projections to advance to the citizenry the winner, the official process is much slower and more complex: generally, there is a recount which can take more or less hours depending on the district, county or state: some states, such as Wisconsin, require it to be done ‘in one go’, without stops, while other states, such as Arizona or Michigan, take much longer (it should be remembered that, in addition to the president, the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate are being voted on).
After, counties have one week, generally, to certify the results.. Then the states do so, within 10 more days. The governors of each state must endorse the results before November 23.by issuing a certificate with the electoral delegates elected in each state.
These delegates meet in their respective states on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday of December after the election, in this case on December 17. At that meeting, they cast their votes for president and vice president of the United States, as voted by the citizenry. Those votes are recorded on a certificate and sent to Congress.
The Capitol is the last stop in the process: there, in a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate, Congress must certify the states’ votes. and, finally, appoint the new president of the United States. This occurs on January 6and the new president takes office on the 20th of that month.
An official result could take days
Bottom line, the count is slow due to the whole procedural arc. that states have to certify their results. In practice, the election results have almost always been known from media projections, but the official count is a much slower process.
Whether or not there will be a winner in the early morning hours of January 5 to 6 (Spanish time) will depend, in large part, on the closeness of the results and the speed of each district and county in making the count.