Election researcher Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson answers viewers' questions

American Election Day is here and today Americans go to the polls around the country.

Due to the large number of postal votes, there is a risk that the election result will be delayed.

But what is it that suggests that the election should be decided "immediately"?

Election researcher Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson answers viewers' questions in SVT's chat.

He believes a scenario would be if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden takes an impregnable lead in Florida at 1:30 a.m. tonight, followed by a similar result in the states of Georgia or North Carolina.

- Then we know.

Is it smoother, much like in opinion polls, or if Trump were to take those states, it will probably take a little longer.

Difficult to assess.

Many moving parts, he writes in SVT's chat.

Can be 269-269

To take home the victory in the American election, a candidate must collect 270 electoral votes. But can it theoretically end in a draw?

- There are theoretical outcomes where the final position in the Electoral College will be 269-269.

Then the House of Representatives chooses who becomes president and the senate who becomes vice president.

It does not have to be from the same party, he writes in the chat.

The choice is between the Republican candidate, President Donald Trump and the Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

But has any US state been won by a candidate who is neither Democratic nor Republican?

According to Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson, the independent candidate Ross Perot won 18 percent of the votes in the 1992 presidential election. However, he did not succeed in winning a single electoral vote.

Peaceful change of power for 250 years

Is there any president in modern American history who opposed the election result and refused to resign?

- No.

45 presidents.

250 years.

Peaceful change in power is one of the most important features of democracy, writes Ekengren Oscarsson.

Later in the evening, Ekengren Oscarsson visited Aktuellt and was asked who he thinks will win the election?

- There is a lot that has long spoken for Joe Biden, high turnout tends to benefit Democrats.

Early voting has been at a record high.

Biden has had a larger and much more stable lead than Hillary Clinton had.

However, American elections are very much about mobilizing in the end, so it will be very exciting when we get the first reports of counted votes, he says.