On November third, the United States hosted one of the most decisive elections in its history. Over the course of the first few weeks in November 2020, states are still counting mail-in ballots.

In states like Georgia, where absentee ballots had to be requested, this is not a very pressing issue as all the votes are in; however, the race is so close in Georgia that the state legislature has now ordered a recount of the votes, further delaying the results of the election.

In states like Georgia, Nevada, or Arizona, the race is so close that a recount could help the incumbent Donald Trump to win the election. However, in a state like Pennsylvania, where the margins are relatively large, it is a different story.

Trump has consistently claimed that the state was stolen from him by massive voter fraud, and these implications could delay the final count of the state as more mail-in votes are coming in. If these claims are true that there was substantial voter fraud in Pennsylvania and other states, this will undoubtedly delay the count of all the votes until the November 30th deadline. The deadline is for states to officially verify their votes, and it also serves as a benchmark for the official results of the election.

The United States Government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released the following statement on November 12: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.  Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double-checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result. When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or in any way compromised.”

If the count is still unsure by the November 30th deadline, and any relating court cases are still pending in the courts relating to the election, the decision will go to a congressional hearing. Then if the results are still undecided, the vote will go to the Supreme Court, which will be decided by the nine justices on the Supreme Court.