How to vote, how to find election results and what happens after election day

There is no nationwide body in America that collects and publishes election results. But many media outlets collect data about the vote counting and predict the election winners. Teams of journalists use incoming data on election results as well as information from past elections to find out who won a particular election. These projections do not require all ballots to have been counted or even received.

The 19th relies on Decision Desk HQ to predict the winners of this year's elections. Decision Desk says it considers a number of factors when voting, including how many votes remain to be counted, where the votes are coming from and what types of votes (absentee, primary, voting day) are reported.

Major media networks have their own teams that project winners. Many news outlets also rely on the Associated Press, which has laid out its racism case here.

Even after a major media network predicts a winner, election officials continue to count ballots, which can take days or weeks. Additional election officials, often in a local or regional capacity, then certify those results.