Why the 2020 election might never end

Updated 6:31 PM ET, Mon July 20, 2020

(CNN) - President Donald Trump said a lot of wild things during his interview
on Sunday with Fox News' Chris Wallace.

But he said one thing that should truly scare every single citizen of this
country. Here's the exchange between Wallace and Trump:

Wallace: But can you give a, can you give a direct answer you will accept the
election?

Trump: I have to see. Look, you -- I have to see. No, I'm not going to just say
yes. I'm not going to say no, and I didn't last time either.

Yeah, not good. Especially when you consider that right before this back-and-
forth happened, Trump told Wallace this: "I think mail-in voting is going to rig
the election. I really do." (Side note: There is zero evidence of widespread
voter fraud in mail-in or absentee voting. None.)

And really not good in light of the fact that Trump has been hinting at that idea
for a while now.

"This will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our
country," Trump told a group of conservative students last month.

Then there's this fact: Trump alleged, with no proof, that 3 to 5 million illegal
votes had been cast in the 2016 election by way of explaining why he lost the
popular vote to Hillary Clinton.

When you consider that he won that election -- and that he is not currently
projected to win this one this November -- you can see how bad all this could
get.

Should Trump lose in November, he has already laid the groundwork to say
he was cheated out of a second term by Democrats pushing mail-in voting.
And that, because the whole thing was rigged, he won't acknowledge former
Vice President Joe Biden as the next president. And to run what amounts to a
shadow presidency for the 35% or so of the public who believe whatever he
says -- facts be damned.
So long, peaceful transition of power!

The Point: If you don't get why what Trump told Wallace on Sunday is a direct
threat to the health and strength of our democracy, you aren't paying
attention.

US elections, explained
Updated 5:03 AM ET, Mon July 20, 2020

(CNN) - Other: Read this article in Spanish at CNN Español.

What are the questions that you really, deep down, have about the coming
election? The ones you type into your search browser late at night?

We pulled the top global search queries about US presidential elections.

Here's what you should know about what's happening with the 2020 election
and how it all works.

When does the US election start?

Great question!

Short answer: Election Day, as set by US law, is always the first Tuesday after
the first Monday in November. This year that's November 3.

Better answer: a few weeks before November 3. A lot of people in the US vote
early or by mail, and more than ever will do so this year because of the Covid-
19 pandemic.

Best answer: It's been going on for months already. The presidential election
starts with a primary process for the major political parties, Republicans and
Democrats, to pick their nominees (Donald Trump and Joe Biden this year).
The primaries that determine those candidates started in early 2020 and were
mostly wrapped up by summer.

Also important: There are a lot of other important elections going on at the
same time as the presidential race. Voters will pick all 435 members of the US
House of Representatives, who are in office for two-year terms. Voters in
some states will also vote for US senators, who serve six-year terms. The
party that controls those two houses of Congress has a lot of power in
Washington, so they're important in terms of what the newly elected (or
reelected) president can accomplish.

When does the US election end?

Short answer: November 3 -- though the last polls will close in Alaska after
midnight Eastern Time.

Better answer: when all the votes are counted.

Best answer: Given the move to mail-in voting with the pandemic this year,
figuring out who won the election will probably take more than a day. It could
always be a blowout that's immediately apparent. But neither side is going to
admit defeat until they're absolutely sure they've lost. (Flashback: Al Gore
actually called George W. Bush to rescind his concession in 2000).

A close election could drag on for days or even weeks as states wait for
ballots to trickle in and perform any necessary recounts before certifying their
results. In 2000, the winner wasn't entirely clear for more than a month.

Why is the US Election Day on a Tuesday in November?

It's not in the Constitution, but it is a matter of law. Congress set the date back
in 1845.

Can the election be postponed or changed?

That's been an interesting question this year with the pandemic. Since
Election Day is set by law, it would take an act of Congress and the OK of the
President to postpone or change the date. That doesn't seem likely.

Who can vote?

This is a very good and complicated question, especially since Republicans

and Democrats have been fighting this year about ballot access.

The easy answer is that the 26th Amendment set the voting age at 18 and US
citizens over that age can have their voices heard.

But there is so much more to it. First, voters don't directly elect the president.
That's done by the Electoral College, which includes representatives --
electors -- from each state who cast ballots according to the popular-vote
result. So regular citizens go to the polls to decide who will get their states'
electoral votes. (More on that a little later.)

The rules are different in each state and can even vary within states.

It's notable that in recent years, a series of new state laws have sought to
make it more difficult to vote. The laws' advocates cite concerns about fraud,
though studies find that voter fraud is extremely rare. They've pushed ID
requirements in some places. They've tried to purge voter rolls. Opponents
have complained these restrictions are a form of voter suppression.

Related: Who can vote in US elections

Prisoners can vote in Vermont and Maine, but not elsewhere. An effort to
reenfranchise felons in Florida was approved by voters in 2016, but then slow-
walked by Republicans who run the state government there.

Add to that the stain of slavery and repression, which kept people of color
from voting, first as slaves and later through literacy tests and poll taxes. Also
add that women could not vote in every US state until 1920.

Plus, there are territories. Puerto Ricans are US citizens, but the territory has
no Electoral College votes -- so people registered there have no say in the
November presidential election, although they can vote in party primaries.

What is on the ballot?

Short answer: Most Americans vote for president and Congress, but
November ballots will also include state and local elections, so they will differ
from city to city and state to state.

Long answer: Every person voting in a US state can vote for president. But
the options will be different depending on the state. Biden and Trump will be
on every ballot, but there will be other smaller party options that vary
depending on a state's rules.

Everyone voting in a US state will also vote for a member of Congress, with
some exceptions. Residents of Washington, DC, elect only a nonvoting
delegate to Congress. Residents of Puerto Rico also elect only a nonvoting
delegate to Congress.
US states each get two senators -- whether their population is teensy like
Wyoming or massive like California. But the senators are in six-year terms, so
only about a third of them are on the ballot in any given year.

Some states will pick governors this year, and others won't. Most ballots will
also have some combination of state and local races. Some states have ballot
initiatives and ask their residents about all manner of questions, plus some
people will be asked to vote on local initiatives as well. Again, they're all
different.

Go to your local government or your state secretary of state for a sample

ballot.

How are US senators elected?

They're elected by popular vote within a state. But that's not how the
Constitution first envisioned it. Senators used to be selected by state
legislatures. The framers wanted to protect senators from public opinion. But it
turned out to be a horribly corrupt practice and it took more than 100 years of
effort to change the Constitution in 1913 with the 17th Amendment, which
mandated the people should choose their senators.

How are members of the US House of Representatives elected?

They're elected by popular vote within congressional districts. But it's worth
mentioning that not all congressional districts are drawn equally. The census,
which is conducted every 10 years (including in 2020), determines how many
congressional districts each state gets.

Political parties have long tried to game the drawing of their districts within
states to their advantage. Political parties have often helped solidify their
majorities in states and protect incumbents with creatively drawn districts. The
process of drawing weird lines to favor one party, known as gerrymandering,
has been the subject of numerous court cases. Other states have tried to
make it more fair by adopting nonpartisan or bipartisan commissions to
redraw district lines.

The population disparities in the country have gotten a bit ridiculous.

Wyoming's sole congressional district has fewer than 600,000 people. A
district in California or Texas will have more than 700,000.
After the 2020 census, there will be a "reapportionment" and some states may
lose or gain seats in the House depending on population changes.

How is the US president elected?

This gets complicated!

Each state conducts its own election, but they all feature the Republican and
the Democrat on their ballots. So while there is no technical rule that the
election is between these two parties, that is effectively the case. The parties
pick their nominees during a series of primaries, usually beginning in January
of the general election year. From there, the timeline is set:

All the states conduct their general elections on the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November. Then, electors -- the people who will vote in the
Electoral College -- are chosen based on the victor in the statewide election.

The states' electors meet in the state capitals on the first Monday after the
second Wednesday in December -- this year, that's December 14 -- and cast
their ballots for president and vice president.

They then send those off to Capitol Hill by December 23.

All of the electoral votes from each state are ultimately awarded to the winner
of that state, except in Maine and Nebraska, where two electoral votes go to
the state winner and the remaining votes -- representing congressional
districts -- go to the winner of that congressional district.

The Electoral College votes are counted aloud in Congress on January 6 by

the sitting vice president.

There are then two weeks to settle any last disputes, and on January 20 the
new president is inaugurated.

Is the electoral vote based on the popular vote?

NO! And that's how Trump became President even though more people voted
for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Same with George W. Bush vs. Al Gore and a
handful of other presidents in history. The system, which today benefits
smaller and less populous states, was set up before most of the US
population could vote. It gave states in the South partial credit for their
enslaved populations in determining the volume of their representation but
gave voting rights only to certain White men.

Related: The history of the Electoral College

Today, American voters cast ballots for president, but they're still choosing
electors who will ultimately pick the president. The number of electors has
been set at 538 since 1964, and it requires 270 to win. Each state gets a
number of electors equal to its representation in Congress (House plus two
senators). So Wyoming get three electors, while California, the most populous
state, gets 55.

When are election results announced?

Election officials generally begin counting and reporting results once polls
have closed in their area. You'll see those results begin to trickle out, and may
hear news agencies like CNN projecting winners fairly quickly. Or you'll hear
about one of the candidates conceding defeat.

Some bigger news organizations look at the incoming results, exit polls and
other existing data on election night and can, in many cases, project that a
candidate will go on to win their race. If there's not enough information,
though, it can take a long time for a winner to become clear.

Related: CNN's Interactive Electoral College map. Try different scenarios to

get to 270 electoral votes.

Typically, Americans know on Election Day who won their presidency. This
time around, counting votes could take significantly longer as more people
vote by mail or absentee. But the formal process of choosing a president (see
above) goes on for months and the winner is not technically announced until
at least January 6. But that's only a technicality unless there's a hiccup.

Can the election end in a tie?

Yes, no and sort of. It can't end in a tie in that there will ultimately be a
president. But there can be an electoral-vote tie along the way. If, after
Election Day, no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes (or two tie at 269), the
House takes over to choose the president and each state delegation would
get a vote. They'd keep at it until one of the candidates had a majority.
History buffs should read up on the election of 1824, when John Quincy
Adams was made President by the House even though Andrew Jackson got
more popular and electoral votes to begin with.

When does the winner take office?

At noon on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Mark your calendar.

Republican leaders vow to fill a potential Supreme

Court vacancy this year, despite some apprehension
Updated 8:59 PM ET, Mon July 20, 2020

(CNN) - Senate Republican leaders, undeterred by the scathing criticism

leveled against them for blocking President Barack Obama's election-year
Supreme Court nominee in 2016, are signaling that they are prepared to
confirm a nominee by President Donald Trump even if that vacancy occurred
after this year's election.

The push comes despite ample apprehension from influential Republicans

that the GOP could pay a political price for treating a nominee under Trump
differently than they did under Obama. It also comes as Democrats are
increasingly worried about the fragile health of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
the 87-year-old liberal jurist who recently made public a new bout with cancer,
and the possibility of other retirements.

"We will," said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking
Republican leader, when asked if the Senate would fill a vacancy, even during
the lame-duck session after the presidential election. "That would be part of
this year. We would move on it."

But the veteran Iowa Republican who chaired the Judiciary Committee in
2016 and helped block Judge Merrick Garland -- Obama's nominee -- by
refusing to schedule election-year confirmation hearings, said he would not fill
a fill a vacancy now for the same reason.

"My position is if I were chairman of the committee I couldn't move forward

with it," Sen. Chuck Grassley told CNN.

The current Judiciary Committee chair, Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham of
South Carolina, has professed differing views about whether he would try to
confirm a nominee during the last year of Trump's term.
Asked about his past opposition to moving a nominee in a presidential
election year after the primary season, Graham said: "After Kavanaugh, I have
a different view of judges," referencing the brutal 2018 confirmation process of
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who's a member of the Judiciary

Committee, said that if a vacancy were to occur, he would like to get a
nominee confirmed before the court's term begins in October.

Hawley said he would be "shocked" if Trump didn't try to fill a vacancy despite
GOP arguments in 2016 that voters should decide which president selects a
nominee during an election year.

Hawley said the difference between then and now is that Obama couldn't run
again but Trump is on the ballot trying to win a second term.

"I think we have a different set of circumstances. We have a President who is

very actively running for reelection," Hawley said. "He's going to be on the
ballot. People are going to be able to render a verdict on him like they couldn't
on Obama. My guess is he would absolutely nominate somebody. I would be
shocked if he didn't."

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who is running for reelection, told Iowa
PBS last week she supports confirming a potential nominee this year,
according to The Des Moines Register.

"(If) it is a lame-duck session, I would support going ahead with any hearings
that we might have," she said. "And if it comes to an appointment prior to the
end of the year, I would be supportive of that."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has

repeatedly vowed to fill a vacancy this year and has said the difference
between now and 2016 is that by the time Obama, a Democrat, nominated
Garland to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia,
Republicans controlled the Senate. Right now, Republicans control both the
White House and the Senate.

A vacancy could put some GOP senators in a tough spot. Asked if he

supported filling a vacancy this year, Sen. Thom Tillis, a vulnerable
Republican running for reelection in North Carolina, said, "I am praying for
Justice Ginsburg's health. That's all I'm really focused on right now."
Asked about filling a vacancy caused by retirement, not death, he downplayed
the likelihood that would happen.

"I don't think there are many indications that there are. Normally those moves
are made back in June over the session. I don't see any real possibility that
there will be one," Tillis said.