When we might know US election results: After a long night, eyes on Day 2

As of 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, six states that will decide the next president remained uncalled, as did a handful of Senate races that will determine who controls the chamber.

Here’s where things stand, when you can expect final results, and how to follow along today as this extraordinary election unfolds.

What are we waiting for?

In the presidential race, as of 4:50 p.m. Eastern time, we did not yet know who won Alaska (3 electoral votes), Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Nevada (6), North Carolina (15) or Pennsylvania (20).

With three new calls — Michigan and Wisconsin for Joseph R. Biden Jr., and Maine’s Second Congressional District for President Trump — Mr. Biden has 253 confirmed electoral votes and would need 17 more to win. President Trump has 214 confirmed electoral votes and would need 56 more to win.

Five Senate races were uncalled in four states: Alaska, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina. A sixth race, in Maine, was called Wednesday afternoon for the Republican incumbent, Senator Susan Collins.

Georgia has two races, both involving Republican incumbents whom Democrats hope to unseat. One, between Senator David Perdue and Jon Ossoff, might be decided in the next few days or might go to a runoff in January, depending on whether a Libertarian candidate gets enough votes to keep both major-party candidates below 50 percent. The other race will require a runoff between the incumbent, Kelly Loeffler, and Raphael Warnock, a Democrat.

When will we know the results?

This will probably vary significantly from state to state. Let’s take them one at a time.

Alaska

Alaska may well be the last state to be called, because officials there won’t even begin counting mail ballots, or early in-person ballots cast after Oct. 29, for another week. That being said, it’s a red state and isn’t really competitive. Mr. Trump will probably win here pretty easily, and Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, probably will too.

Arizona

Arizona may be called Wednesday night. Mr. Biden is leading by five percentage points with more than 80 percent of the estimated vote counted, and some news outlets, including The Associated Press and Fox News, have already called it for him. The New York Times and others have not done so, but Arizona officials are expected to provide updated vote totals at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Georgia

Georgia might have been called already if not for a burst pipe at a site in Fulton County where election officials were counting absentee ballots, which delayed the counting process in and around Atlanta.

Mr. Trump was ahead in the state by a little over two percentage points with 92 percent of the estimated vote counted, but the uncounted votes from such a heavily Democratic area could close the gap, and the secretary of state’s office cautioned against relying on the current results given that fact.

Counting should be completed on Wednesday.

Nevada

Mr. Biden has a slim lead in Nevada, but it’s much closer than experts expected going in, and the state will accept mail ballots received through Nov. 10 as long as they were postmarked by Election Day.

Because mail ballots tend to lean Democratic, it’s possible that these could expand Mr. Biden’s margin, but we may not know for a week.

North Carolina

Mr. Trump is narrowly ahead in North Carolina with 95 percent of estimated votes counted. But North Carolina will accept mail-in ballots that arrive through Nov. 12, and it’s possible that the race won’t be called until then.

Pennsylvania

There are a lot of uncounted votes in major metropolitan areas of Pennsylvania — including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh — which could allow Mr. Biden to make up his current deficit. But it will be close.

While other states counted through the night, election officials in Pennsylvania resumed counting Wednesday morning. The Trump campaign is also fiercely contesting Pennsylvania ballots in the courts, which could drag the process out for quite some time. Election officials are expected to give an update at 6:15 p.m. Eastern.

What are the candidates saying?

Mr. Biden told supporters Wednesday afternoon, “I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

Mr. Trump, by contrast, made reckless claims at the White House in which he falsely declared victory and threatened to go to the Supreme Court to shut the election down before every valid vote is counted.