If you have voted in past US elections or taken a history class, you have an idea what the Electoral College is (opens in new tab). (opens in new tab) In this centuries-old system, each state appoints to the Electoral College a number of electors equal to the number of members of that state's legislature. From there, all states (except Maine and Nebraska) adopt a winner-take-all system in which the candidate who receives the most votes (opens in new tab) wins all the votes in that state's electoral college.

From there, the candidate who receives 270 of the 538 votes cast wins the election. You might think, "That sounds easy," but it is a bit complicated.

In most years, by the end of election day, based on the available results, one has an idea of who won. In fact, the election results are not finalized until all the electors meet to count the electoral votes and declare the results. The electoral votes will not be counted at this meeting (open in new tab) until January 6, 2021.

What happens then: the incumbent Vice President assumes the presidency of the Senate and presides over the joint session. They will ask the electors to read the results of each state's certificates cast by the electors to determine the number of votes. If there are no objections to the reading, the Senate President officially announces the elected President-elect and Vice President-elect.

The two winners are then made official on January 20, 2021, when they are inaugurated by the Chief Justice of the Federal Supreme Court. In other words, we hear a lot about who "won" the election, but nothing is completely official until January.