# About when will the US Presidential Election result be known? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2016, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351 "2016-11-01T11:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/41 "2016-11-03T21:41:29Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yeah, but that’s not really a big deal. The population of the entire Florida panhandle - not just the bit that’s in the Central time zone - is 1.5 million, out of a total state population of over 20 million. Doesn’t matter what percent that is, only the total amount-- the delta was only a few hundred between Bush and Gore, so it wouldn’t take much to flip it. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/42 "2016-11-03T22:18:29Z")
Go to bed at your usual bedtime. Fall a sleep. It will seem like a minute later when your clock radio snaps on, with the full and final results. Nothing they said while you were asleep will have any relevance to anything. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/43 "2016-11-03T22:20:06Z")
Folks upthread are talking about when the MSM will “call” the election. The various websites and bloggers and such will be “calling” the election from 8AM Eastern on the 8th when the polls open. It’ll be a continuous play by play based on exit polls and “polls” and guesswork and retweets. Most of the US public gets most of its news and “news” via their Facebook feeds and friends now. So any thought that the MSM waiting until polls have closed in various states to say something is somehow keeping the suspense up out of fairness to later voters is silly. Plenty of folks have explained the difference between when the MSM makes a “call” and when we truly officially know for sure in January some time. So I’ll let that one sit. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/44 "2016-11-05T03:19:49Z")
Way to go, **Princhester**. Of all elections, this is the one to hold a Don’s Party. (Australian reference to a famous play and movie about a party held on election nigh). ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/45 "2016-11-06T14:11:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **snip** So it’s possible that, even while the rest of Nebraska votes for Trump by huge margins, Clinton might squeak out a win in Omaha (not unprecedented; Obama did it in 2008). We are among the reddest of the red states. That Omaha vote going to Obama has resulted in many calls for the law to be changed to make NE a winner take all state, and quite a few attempts at gerrymandering the 2nd district to disenfranchise the Democrats. The very idea of a possible Nebraska Liberal is an anathema to the rest of the state. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/46 "2016-11-06T19:38:41Z")
I don’t doubt it. And on the other end of the scale, there have been attempts to make, e.g., Ohio use the same system as Nebraska, so Republicans can take advantage of gerrymandering there in the Presidential election even if the state as a whole goes blue. But as it is right now, the law has not yet been changed, either to change any state’s voting system, or to gerrymander Nebraska (which is actually remarkably close to what a perfectly-fair districting would look like). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/47 "2016-11-09T03:35:15Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Way to go, **Princhester**. Of all elections, this is the one to hold a Don’s Party. (Australian reference to a famous play and movie about a party held on election nigh). Right about now this is looking like a very apt analogy. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/48 "2016-11-09T05:40:47Z")
So… how is the party going? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/49 "2016-11-09T07:07:03Z")
The Wake? Doesn’t start for an hour and a half. Not looking forward to it really. It is, as **NP** said, going to be like Don’s Party except we’re going to be gloomy before we even start, and there’s going to be no naked women or sex. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/50 "2016-11-09T07:35:05Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > … > I ask because my neighbors are having a US election celebration (or wake depending on who wins). But I’m wondering if it will be a long vigil or over by a reasonable hour, Brisbane time. Well, mate, I hope you’ve got enough grog to help you forget. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/51 "2016-11-09T07:42:14Z")
2:40 a.m. EST and it’s been called. Donald Trump has won the presidency with 276 electoral votes. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351/52 "2016-11-09T11:15:30Z")
Sorry, did I say it was an election party? We just talked about work, children, where we lived. You know, all the usual things. What election would we bother to talk about? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-when-will-the-us-presidential-election-result-be-known/770351.md?page=2)