The day is finally here! As the polls close and states start to call the results of the 2016 presidential election between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump, you can watch the returns on so many different platforms.
If you’re posting up by your TV all night, tune in to most major networks for election coverage. Here’s what to expect on each of the networks:
—The ABC broadcast will kick off at 7 p.m. ET with the regular ABC News team led by George Stephanopoulos.
—CBS' coverage, anchored by Scott Pelley and the morning show team of Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell, will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET.
—NBC will go live with their all-night special at 7 p.m. ET with reporting by Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie, Chuck Todd and Tom Brokaw, right after the Nightly News.
—PBS will start covering Election Night at 8 p.m. ET with Hari Sreenivasan and Judy Woodruff.
—Fox News will be anchored by Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier, beginning at 6 p.m. ET.
—CNN will get an early start at 4 p.m. ET with Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper and Dana Bash giving viewers the latest updates.
—MSNBC’s broadcast will be headed up by Brian Williams along with Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews at 6 p.m. ET.
Fox Business Network, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and C-SPAN are also beginning coverage in the early evening. Some other Election Night specials include TV One’s NewsOne Now, which will air a six-hour broadcast focused on the political races affecting the African American community at 7 p.m. ET, and Lifetime’s The View Live Election Special at 9 p.m. ET. On Showtime, Stephen Colbert will offer some comedy during Stephen Colbert’s Live Election Night Democracy’s Series Finale: Who’s Going to Clean Up This S–t? at 11 p.m. ET. Another late-night option: The Daily Show With Trevor Noah will air a live telecast on Comedy Central at 11 p.m. ET.
If you want to stream it on your computer, tablet or phone, check out Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Twitter is offering a livestream thanks to reporters from BuzzFeed, who will be covering the incoming results. YouTube is teaming up with six media outlets, including NBC News, PBS, MTV News, Bloomberg, Telemundo and the Young Turks to broadcast the election results. Finally, Facebook will partner with several media outlets via the official pages of The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and more.
While it’s too early to tell what time the results will be called, both the 2008 and 2012 elections were announced around 11 p.m. ET — once the final polls on the West Coast closed. However, in 2000 the results were finalized almost a month later by the Supreme Court, when George W. Bush took the White House over rival Al Gore following a virtual tie in the state of Florida.
According to The New York Times, Clinton could have enough electoral votes by 9 p.m. if she takes all the states where she is expected to win, Maine’s Second Congressional District and every one of the six swing states that finish voting by that time, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio. If Trump gets wins in every one of the nine competitive states and districts, he could secure enough electoral votes by 10 p.m., assuming Alaska goes in his favor when they conclude voting at 1 a.m.
