More than 90 million Americans have voted early, so election night is going to present a unique challenge for the media this year. But there are a few states that will be particularly important in the vote count that could help newsrooms call the election Tuesday night.
If we know the results and there’s a clear winner in Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, “we could very well know a winner” CNN’s Washington Bureau Chief Sam Feist told Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter on “Reliable Sources” Sunday.
But if the election comes down to Pennsylvania, Feist said there’s a chance we won’t know the winner on Election Night.
“Donald Trump could have an artificial lead in the state of Pennsylvania,” Feist said, adding that this lead could shrink when mail-in votes are counted.
Mail-in ballots might take a while to count. Election officials have to open the envelopes, check the signatures and then process the ballots.
“We can expect them to not finish counting until Wednesday, Thursday or even Friday,” Feist said. “Just because it takes longer doesn’t mean anything is wrong. They’re going to do it methodically.”
Florida and North Carolina, however, are already counting mail-in ballots. “At the very beginning of election night, those states are going to dump their early vote into the results,” Feist said.
Just 21% of US adults think the winner of the election will be known on the evening of Election Day, while another 25% expect the winner will be known one to three days after, according to a recent Gallup/Knight survey. The majority — 54% — expect it will take longer than three days.
Feist added that CNN viewers can expect to see the same faces that they usually see on the network on Election Night, but the anchors and guests will be adhering to social-distancing regulations.
“This is the most unusual election in our lifetime because so many people have voted by mail,” Feist told Stelter Saturday after finishing a prep session with CNN’s Election Night anchors and producers.
Feist said that there’s no way to know if networks will project a winner on Tuesday night.
“It’s entirely possible that we won’t project a winner at all,” he said. CNN will, however, make projections of states as votes roll in on Election Night.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.