The ultimate election results might not be transparent on Election Day or even for a few days after, but “we will all need to be patient,” Mettler said.

“There is a mistaken notion that we have always named the president on election day. We never have, not once in American history. Not only has there always been some variation in when states finalize their results—throughout most of the nineteenth century, for example, many states held elections over the course of multiple days, with the results being reported as they came in and before the polling period had closed—but the new president has never been "named" until the electoral colleges meet in December,” Bateman said. “Anything before that is informal.”

Rachel Bucchino is a reporter at the National Interest. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill.

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