A TEXAS VIEWER’ S GUIDE TO THE 2020 ELECTION

If you are looking for how to best follow along with tonight’s election, here are some key things towatch for as results begin to comein from across the nation.

■ First up at 5: Two hours before most of the Texas polling places close their doors, two states will already be closed for business. Kentucky and Indiana will bee the first states to close polling locations with both likely to be the first twostates called for President Donald Trump, who is heavily favored.

■ The big ones at6: At 6 p.m., things really take offff as voting ends in most of Florida and Georgia, two states that are considered toss-ups and will go a longway in determining whether Trump wins a second term. But there is a catch. Florida’s farwestern Panhandle doesn’t wrap up voting until 7 p.m. Much of the early analysis on TV will largely focus on Miami, Tampa and Orlando— three places where Joe Biden will have to post big numbers. If Florida and Georgia were both to break for Biden, it would likely mean Trump has lost the race.

■ Texas, partially, at 7: While polls will close in Houston and most of Texas at 7 p.m., the state won’t tally any votes fromthe state’s sixth largest city, El Paso, because it is in the Mountain Timezone where polls close at 8 p.m. Central Time. That means youmay start hearing local results in Houston long before the Texas tally is available.

■ How we count: Since early voting ended on Friday, Texas counties with 100,000 people or more have already been counting early votes and mail-in ballots. Nearly 1 million Texans voted by mail. That means that by 7 p.m., big counties are often in a position to begin releasing huge vote numbers. Smaller counties have to wait until Election Day begins to start tallying mail-in ballots.

■ Counties before state: When looking for state election results, understand there will be a lag between what counties are reporting and aggregate numbers released by the Texas secretary of state.

■ The slow states: Pennsylvania and some other states have laws that delay counting mail-in votes until the polls are closed. Minnesota and Wisconsin are among states that could have delayed results. Pennsylvania leaves it up to each county to decide whether to count mail-in ballots on Election Day, or wait until after polls close. Some counties have even said they may not tally early voting ballots until the next morning.

■ Outwest: All eyeswill be on Texas after polls close here statewide by 8 p.m., but also look west to to Arizona. Polls there close at 8 p.m. Arizona’s most populous county, Maricopa County (home to Phoenix), holds the key to that state.

■ Last states: At 11 p.m. CST polls will just be closing in Hawaii and part of Alaska. All of Alaska’s polls will close at midnight— the last state to finish voting.