Do not wait for the presidential election results as the counting of votes may take some time

SAN ANTONIO — Polls in Bexar County will close at 7 p.m. Tuesday evening, but results will not be announced immediately.

Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said early voting results will be released shortly after polls close, but all votes are expected to be counted after midnight.

But the presidential race could last several days, said Juan Sepulveda, a political science professor at Trinity University. In 2020, President Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump was not determined until the Saturday after the election.

This time, seven battleground states are expected to decide the presidential race: Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Nebraska and Maine could also split their electoral votes between the two candidates, unlike the other 48 winner-take-all states.

Given the role they could play in each candidate's race for 270 electoral votes, the seven states' individual election schedules could prevent an immediate result.

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For example, election officials in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin cannot begin counting early votes until Election Day, making a final count Tuesday evening unlikely.

Meanwhile, Sepulveda says mail-in voting is popular in both Nevada and Arizona. Nevada ballots can arrive up to four days after Election Day, and the sheer size of Arizona's system means counting will take time.

“It could be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. When I mentioned Nevada and Arizona becoming key players in this, we're thinking maybe at the end of the week or at the beginning of the weekend,” Sepulveda said.

Although the polls show a close race, it is possible that the result will be blown one way or the other. That being said, Sepulveda says don't be surprised if vote counting continues into the weekend.

“And that's why people need to be prepared that if one side sort of declares itself the winner on Tuesday night and it's not a slam dunk, you're going to have to ignore that because that means the count isn't finished yet. It’s someone trying to tell a story,” he said. “But that is not the reality of what needs to happen for the count to take place.”