MARYVILLE, Tenn. — It's possible the next president of the United States won't be decided on Election Night, a Maryville College professor said.
Mark O'Gorman is a professor of political science and said multiple students came up to him on Election Day to tell him they'd voted.
He said it's not likely the results of the presidential election will be available before Wednesday morning.
"It would be shocking if we found out the full decision by dawn tomorrow," O'Gorman said. "Just the fact that more than a few of the states, especially those battleground states, they have a process, it will just take time to validate the votes."
More than 2 million people took advantage of early voting in Tennessee this year, however, O'Gorman said that doesn't mean one candidate has a leg-up on the other.
In the past, he said, the mail-in votes often went to Democrats, while Republicans tended to show up on Election Day to vote.
"In terms of favoring any political party, I don't think it favors any candidate as much as it used to," O'Gorman said. "There is still a blue tinge to early voting. But it depends on who you're looking at."