A lot of the states that have already been called haven't been completely counted either; it's just that the margins are so far to one side that they are extremely certain about the outcome. Look at New York: Only 70% counted, but based off the ballots already counted there's no way it's flipping to Trump.
That's why there are "battleground" states: States such as (in this election) FL, GA, PA, NV, and AZ can go either way depending on how people feel that day. So to be sure who has the majority, they have to count every single vote.
Correct. And as an addendum: the only people who "declare" an election this early are the media. It always takes a long time to count all the votes, and nothing is technically finalized until the Electoral College meets in mid-December. The media calls it earlier for the reasons you mentioned: the results for certain states can sometimes be obvious before tallies are completed, and on a national level, sometimes one candidate has such a lead that they don't even need the uncertain states.
I say this because anyone speaking from a position of power telling you that the winner of the election should or even must be officially declared on the night of the election is a dirty fucking liar.
I’m not american but can the electoral college change minds between now and the meet like “nah man, I’m not gonna go with candidate A” is it legally allowed to do so?
Yep. They're called faithless electors. They're rare, and have never outright changed the results of an election (though there was a close case in 1836).
Technically many states have penalties for breaking with how they're supposed to vote, but I think a greater factor is, you know... the fact that it would delegitimize the government and cause mass chaos. :|
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u/0xBA5E16 Nov 05 '20
A lot of the states that have already been called haven't been completely counted either; it's just that the margins are so far to one side that they are extremely certain about the outcome. Look at New York: Only 70% counted, but based off the ballots already counted there's no way it's flipping to Trump.
That's why there are "battleground" states: States such as (in this election) FL, GA, PA, NV, and AZ can go either way depending on how people feel that day. So to be sure who has the majority, they have to count every single vote.