US election 2020: Still no result for Trump and Biden - why does the counting take so long? 

The counting of votes in the US presidential election continues days after the election.

A winner has still not been determined.

There are reasons.

• You can find all information about the developments in the US election in our news ticker.

Washington DC - On Tuesday night (CET) the

in the

gradually

closed their doors and US citizens waited for the results of THE election and the answer to the question of who they are in the coming

will reign

as

four years

.

On Saturday afternoon (CET), more than three days later, there is still no reliable information about who won the election: incumbent

or challenger

.

US election 2020: Still no result for Trump and Biden - why does the counting take so long? 

This was due in part is the complicated

of the

.

Across the country, Joe Biden received over four million more votes than his rival

.

In the electoral system, however, this difference is of limited relevance.

One of the two

must win at least 270

to become president.

In order to finally determine who won more electors, the US population is still waiting on Saturday lunchtime for the results from six

that have not yet been assigned to a candidate:

and

.

But why does the

so long?

US election 2020: result missing - these are the causes

The first major reason for the duration of the

is the above-average number of postal voters this year.

Also due to the ongoing

in the USA and the associated risk of infection in polling stations, a large number of democratic voters in particular voted by letter.

As focus.de reports, the number of nationwide

from around 33 million in 2016 to almost 100 million.

+

When it comes to elections in the USA, the counting of the postal votes is decisive.

And this is still going on.

© Paula Bronstein / dpa

2020 US election: why is the count taking so long?

Postal votes pose challenges to authorities

Many authorities were simply not prepared for the sheer mass of postal votes, the counting of which is more time-consuming than the votes cast personally.

Among other things, the signatures on every

must be

compared with the electoral roll.

In Pennsylvania, in particular, where postal voters have been a clear minority up to now, there are delays.

In addition, there is the fact that postal voting documents that have a postmark with the date of the

must be counted even if they reach the authorities well after the election.

In

and North Carolina the

could be received until November 6th.

In

, votes that do not arrive until Tuesday are also valid - provided the postmark is correct.

2020 US election: election workers under increasing pressure after President Trump's fraud allegations

Another cause of the

are the

that

expressed

before

and reiterated after the polls closed.

Trump accuses the Democrats of

wanting to “steal”

the election with fraudulent

.

On Twitter, the US President asked the authorities to stop the counting.

Election workers and those responsible are therefore called upon to be particularly careful when counting.

Right in

- where the

the governor - no mistakes should be made.

STOP THE COUNT!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2020

Since

only a few votes

can decide

between victory or

due to the American

(in Georgia the two competitors are separated by just under 7,000 votes on Saturday lunchtime), enormous accuracy is required, especially in tight states, which

further slows down

the

process.

In

, for example, there could also be recounts if the end result shows less than 0.5 percentage points of what it currently looks like between candidates.

2020 US election: result is still pending - remaining votes difficult to count

The final reason for the

in the counting of the

the nature of the remaining ballots.

Some of these votes are apparently particularly difficult to count because they were filled in incorrectly or not clearly.

In each individual case, experts must therefore be consulted who

decide

on the validity of the

.

So-called “Provisional Ballots” also arise, in which a subsequent identity check of the

take place.

2020 US election: Donald Trump or Joe Biden?

US television stations are holding back with forecasts

Due to these causes and the scope as a result, the not yet counted

are the big hesitate

in the

have a winner of the

announce.

CNN is now addressing this investment on its website and explaining to viewers why no

yet been

named.

"It's because of the math and because we want to achieve the highest level of certainty before we make a prediction," explains CNN policy chief David Chalian.

(fd) *

List of rubric lists: © ANGELA WEISS / AFP