US election 2016: What happens next after election day?
THE US election takes place on Tuesday, November 8 with either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton set to be elected as America’s 45th president. But what happens after election day?
By REISS SMITH
GETTYWhen do polls close?
Polls will close between 12am and 6am GMT.
There will be projections released immediately after, based on opinion polls carried out throughout the day.
The first results will be announced in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. The town has only around a dozen residents who all vote at midnight local time (4am GMT) with the result declared around a minute later.
As results are counted and announced throughout the night, we could have a clear winner by around 4am GMT
It is possible that a winner might not be announced until after election day. In 2000, the result was unclear for around two weeks after voting closed because of a near-dead heat in Florida.
George W Bush was eventually declared the winner of the state, beating Al Gore by a margin of 537 votes. Florida’s 29 electoral college votes were enough to swing the presidency in either candidates favour.
What happens after the winner is announced?
Once US TV networks have called the election, the loser calls the winner to concede, though Trump has hinted that he might break with this tradition should he lose.
The electoral college will meet on Monday December 19 to formally elect the new president and vice president.
The results will be counted and officially announced by incumbent Vice President Joe Biden on Friday January 16, 2017.
What happens next after election day? How does the transition of power work?
Both candidates are likely to have already started “measuring the drapes” for the White House with preliminary transition teams.
Since August, both Trump and Clinton have been given access to 16,000 square feet of federal office – enough for 114 staff.
There, workers will have begun vetting potential names for the approximately 4,000 government positions that the new president will need to fill.
Once either Clinton or Trump has been declared winner the new president-elect will be given access to the Presidential Transition Headquarters in Washington, DC and will be given a multi-million dollar budget.
In 2008, Barack Obama was said to have employed a 450-person team at a cost of $12 million. Of that, $5.2 million as reportedly paid for by the US Government, with the remaining $6.8 million coming from private sources.
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The victor will also attend a Secret Service intelligence briefing. The agency has already revealed its codenames for the two candidates – Evergreen for Clinton, the same name she has used since she was First Lady, and Mogul for Trump.
Shortly after, Obama will invite the new president-elect to tour the White House and discuss the transfer of power, in the same manner as he did with his predecessor Bush in 2008.
The meeting was hailed as a success after Obama convinced Bush to release $350 million of bank bailout funds.
Obama would later praise Bush "for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition”.
GETTYWill the presidential transition go smoothly?
Should Clinton win the election, the transition is likely to be an amicable one.
Obama and his wife Michelle have been prominent campaigners for the Democratic candidate, who served as Secretary of State during the first Obama administration.
If Trump succeeds, there is the possibility that the switchover could be slightly more tense. The Republican has lashed out at Obama several times throughout his campaign, and infamously denied that the President was not born in the US.
Obama has retaliated by labelling Trump “not fit to be President”.
Throughout history, there have been incidents of pranks and vandalism during presidential transitions.
After the transition from Bill Clinton to George W Bush, it was reported that the White House had been “trashed”, leaving $14,000 worth of “damage, theft, vandalism and pranks”.
Almost $5,000 was spent replacing damaged or missing W keys on keyboards, offensive graffiti was found and intentional damage left to office equipment.
Similar pranks have been noted in previous transitions, such as the one between Clinton and Bush’s father, George H W Bush.
GETTYWhen will the new president announce their cabinet?
After their meeting with Obama, the new president-elect will likely begin announcing cabinet appointments in early December.
Obama revealed his first picks around three weeks after election day.
Ahead of inauguration, the Centre for Presidential Transition recommends that the new cabinet are taken on a retreat to “mould them into a cohesive team”.
The rest of December and January will be spent preparing shaping agendas and continuing with appointments.
GETTYWhen will the new president move into the White House?
Traditionally, the president-elect and their family will stay in a hotel from January 15, before moving into the White House on inauguration day on January 20.
After they have been sworn in, the new president will gain access to the official presidential Twitter account @POTUS and the White House website will be redesigned and relaunched at midnight.
Taken from : http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/729117/us-election-2016-what-happens-next-after-day-results-transition-power
