When will we know the winner of the Presidential election?

Record numbers of Americans are waiting on long lines to vote early or mailing in ballots ahead of Election Day.

However, experts say early voting means we may not know who the next president is until after November 3rd.

"We have far more mail-in ballots than we've ever had in the U.S.," said Lawrence Norden, Director of the Brennan Center's Election Reform Program. "In the past couple of federal elections about 25% voted by mail. We're probably going to see close to 50% this year, and in a number of states they're not used to that."

Norden's team recently published “A Roadmap to the Official Count in an Unprecedented Election," a guide showing how election officials will arrive at the official results.

If the race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is close in key battleground states, it may take a few days to determine the winner while some states count absentee and mail-in ballots.

"They'll continue counting until they've completed the count so we might have to wait a few days if it comes down to those three states as it did in 2016," Norden said.

If the election is a landslide victory for either candidate, however, we are likely to know who the winner is right away.

Either way, Norden says polls show a majority of Americans are willing to wait, preferring accuracy over early results.