If we know the results and there’s a clear winner in Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, “we could very well know a winner” CNN’s Washington Bureau Chief Sam Feist told Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter on “Reliable Sources” Sunday.
But if the election comes down to Pennsylvania, Feist said there’s a chance we won’t know the winner on Election Night.
“Donald Trump could have an artificial lead in the state of Pennsylvania,” Feist said, adding that this lead could shrink when mail-in votes are counted.
Mail-in ballots might take a while to count. Election officials have to open the envelopes, check the signatures and then process the ballots.
“We can expect them to not finish counting until Wednesday, Thursday or even Friday,” Feist said. “Just because it takes longer doesn’t mean anything is wrong. They’re going to do it methodically.”
Florida and North Carolina, however, are already counting mail-in ballots. “At the very beginning of election night, those states are going to dump their early vote into the results,” Feist said.
Feist added that CNN viewers can expect to see the same faces that they usually see on the network on Election Night, but the anchors and guests will be adhering to social-distancing regulations.
“This is the most unusual election in our lifetime because so many people have voted by mail,” Feist told Stelter Saturday after finishing a prep session with CNN’s Election Night anchors and producers.
“It’s entirely possible that we won’t project a winner at all,” he said. CNN will, however, make projections of states as votes roll in on Election Night.