HOUSTON — The race is coming down to the tedious process of counting ballots in key states. KHOU 11 is looking at how close the race is and how history can give us some perspective.
“Counting of the ballots, this is normal," said Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University.
For Mark Jones, this is the Super Bowl. Every four years, he dissects.
“If the election is, say, 100-vote margin or 200-vote margin, a recount can change it, but if it’s 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 – a recount is not going to change that result unless there’s something really egregious that occurred," Jones said.
Jones said this is not the closest election the U.S. has ever seen.
“The closest election we’ve ever seen is the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore that was decided by a few hundred votes in Florida,” Jones said.
In 2000, it wasn’t until Dec. 12 after the Supreme Court ruled we knew who won. Afterwards, Bush and Gore met in person, shook hands and stood together in front of cameras.
Jones said he believes President Donald Trump’s challenging of the election will have a different outcome this time.
“It may delay the process, and it may uncover some irregularities and some deficiencies and some malfeasance in some of these states, but I don’t think it’s going to change the overall outcome of the election," Jones said.
One of the reasons the counting takes so long is different states have different rules. In Nevada, mail-in ballots are not due until next Tuesday. In North Carolina, it’s next Thursday.