Voters may not have to wait quite as long after Election Day as four years ago to know who the next president will be.

The public needed to wait almost five days in 2020 before most major news outlets could issue a projection, the longest they had to wait since the infamous 2000 election. A historic increase in mail-in voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic that several key states weren’t prepared to handle quickly was one main reason.

But experts say some changes in state policies since then and an expected drop in mail-ins this year should speed the process up, even if the final result isn’t known on election night.

“Things will be different this year,” said Quinn Yeargin, an associate professor of law at Michigan State University. “It may not be as quick as 2022. Famous last words I suppose, but I would be surprised if the process took as long as it did in 2020.”

“At the same time, the ultimate outcome in 2020 was quite clear before the networks called it on that Saturday,” Yeargin added. “There was no real question as to what was going to happen probably after Wednesday afternoon or Thursday.”

Up until 2020, Americans had broadly gotten used to relatively quick race calls for elections, usually no later than late Tuesday or early Wednesday after the election. Of the races of the past few decades, all of them had been called by major media outlets by early the following morning except for 2000 when a recount in Florida caused weeks of delays.

But four years ago marked a sharp difference, with the pandemic yielding health guidelines to minimize in-person interactions indoors as much as possible. With the election approaching, many voters turned to mail-in voting to avoid voting in person, and several states altered their policies to allow more voters........

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