When Will Presidential Election Results 2012 Be Announced?

You've voted in Durham and Middlefield and now you're waiting for the results. How long will you have to wait?

The polls close on the West Coast at 8 p.m. Pacific Time (11 p.m. here), but voting in "swing states" will end before that. A swing, or battleground, state is one in which no particular political party or candidate has a majority of the electoral college votes. The swing states this year are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Polls in Florida and Virginia will close at 7 p.m. North Carolina and Ohio close at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. New Hampshire and Pennsylvania will close at 8 p.m. our time, and Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin at 9 p.m. The final battleground states (Iowa and Nevada) will close their polls at 10 p.m.

The last state to cast votes in the U.S. is Alaska; the polls close at 11 p.m. or midnight (depending on where in the state someone is voting). 

Will we know who the president is by the time Alaska residents finish voting? It's anyone's guess.

When do you think we'll know who the president is? Share your predictions in the comments.