When will we know who won the US election?

We’re still awaiting results from a few key US states that will determine whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the White House.

While voting has closed across the US, the process of determining a winner can take some time because Americans do not vote directly for the president. Instead, they vote for Electoral College voters who are allocated based on the states’ population.

In 48 of 50 states, all of a state’s Electoral College votes go to the candidate who won in that state, even if it’s only by a slim margin.

There are 538 electoral votes, and the first candidate to secure 270 of them will be the next US president.

The key remaining swing states include Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona – but Harris’ path to victory is narrowing as Trump has a substantial lead in most of these states.

States all have different procedures for counting ballots, which can create delays. For example, some states do not allow officials to begin counting early or mail-in ballots until Election Day.

Four swing states – Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – have absentee ballot processes that mean their votes could take days to finalise. The official, certified vote will take weeks.

But if the results are conclusive, a victor may be called sooner.

In 2020, President Joe Biden was declared the winner four days after the election.