When

When will we know?

As the political sage of Al Jazeera’s US Midterm election coverage, the question I get asked most is: "When will we know who wins?" The answer I usually give is: "When we know it."

Tuesday is Election Day in the United States. All 435 members of the House of Representatives are being contested, so are 37 Senate seats, and a number of governor's offices. Lots of factors affect when we'll know the outcome – lines at the polls, counting time, how close the race is, weather delays ... after polls close in each state, it could be minutes, it could be hours. Or in the case of a recount, maybe even weeks.  

I passed by a local polling station on my way to work this morning. There were only a few people in line, a far cry from 2008 when the queue was around the block. That's typical for a midterm election.