Election Day in the United States is now often considered election week as each state follows its own rules and practices for counting ballots – not to mention the legal challenges – that can delay the results. But the truth is, nobody knows how long it will take for the winner to be announced this time.

In 2020, news outlets – like the AP – declared President Joe Biden the winner on Saturday afternoon – four days after polls closed. But even then, The AP called North Carolina for Trump 10 days after Election Day and Georgia for Biden 16 days later after hand recounts.

Four years earlier, the 2016 election was decided just hours after most polls closed. The AP declared Trump the winner on election night at 2:29 a.m. (it was technically Wednesday morning on the East Coast).

This time, both campaigns believe the race is extremely close across the seven swing states that are expected to decide the election, barring a major surprise: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The size of the map and the tightness of the race make it hard to predict when a winner could be declared.