When do they announce the winner on election night?

[StupidFOX]

It's 11 EST, right?
Anybody else going to be watching Daily Show's "Prelude To a Recount"?

[clydefrand]

1. What if there are still long lines of people waiting to vote?

[ClassWarrior]

3. They're SUPPOSED to let everyone in line vote...

...even if it goes past the 8 p.m. local time closing.

24.

[ClassWarrior]

2. That's when they can start announcing projections...

...because that's when the last polls close. 8 p.m. Pacific Time. But those are ONLY projections. If it's at all close - which I don't think it will be - the projections will be as reliable as Kreskin on acid.

24.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. 7:34 am and 32 seconds PST

:)

[meganmonkey]

5. Who's 'they'?

[amandabeech]

6. The whole thing could be up in the air until the Electoral College

votes. After the 2000 fiasco when at least some networks called it for Gore and then had to withdraw the call, I expect that all news outlets will be very reticent to call anything. They undoubtedly want to avoid looking like complete fools again.

For example, here in Pennsylvania, a group of mostly 'Pugs forced Rendell to count absentee ballots, correctly postmarked or dated, that come in until 10 days after Nov. 2.

If Penn. is as close as the Pubbies would like it to be, and the winner of Penn. will win the whole thing, there may be no call possible until all the absentee votes are counted.

Other states may face similar situations.

Then there are the lawsuits. I expect considerable filings for temporary restraining orders on election day in Florida and Ohio, at the least, that may interrupt voting or prevent counting.

Additionally, there may be extensive use of provisional ballots which may be challenged without court involvement.

Since the Pubbies will do just about anything to prevent ballots from being counted, there may be very large numbers of votes under question, making predictions of ultimate victory very, very difficult.

I'm not certain of the exit poll situation this year, but with widespread litigation and other problems, the news outlets may refuse to release the results of any exit polls for fear of retribution from Rove if such exit polls show wide margins for Kerry in disputed areas.