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CNN Explains: Electoral College
- NEW: Ohio secretary of state says he thinks results will be known tonight
- Presidential results could be delayed if battleground Ohio is particularly close
- Polls begin closing at 7 p.m. ET
- Virginia could be an early indicator, CNN's John King says
(CNN) -- It's been a grueling campaign. You just want to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and find out who will be president for the next four years.
So when will we know?
Technically speaking -- who the heck can say?
With a race that went into Election Day neck and neck, and plenty of questions about how key battleground states will play out, it's reasonable to assume a long night is in store.
It could be even longer if the election ends up balanced on the edge of a razor-thin vote in Ohio or if voting irregularities spark legal challenges in any of a number of critical states.
A sign directs voters to the gymnasium at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Americans across the country participate in Election Day as President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney face off in what's expected to be a tight race. 
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks with journalists Tuesday on a flight to Boston, Massachusetts -- the last flight of his presidential campaign. 
Raena Lamont, 3, wears a Captain America costume at a polling center Tuesday in Staten Island, New York. The polling station doubles as a donation site as Staten Island works to recover in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. See the best of Romney and Obama on the campaign trail. 
A voter casts his ballot Tuesday in Mansfield, Texas. 
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney takes a break from last-minute campaigning to greet workers Tuesday in Richmond Heights, Ohio. 
A voter's bicycle leans against a wall at a lifeguard station, home to a polling place in Hermosa Beach, California. 
Voters walk past a plethora of campaign signs after casting their ballots at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kansas City, Missouri. 
Jesse James, whose home was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, prepares to vote in a makeshift tent set up as a polling place in Rockaway Park, a neighborhood in Queens, New York. 
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney waves to supporters Tuesday at Pittsburgh International Airport in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. 
Workers prepare for President Barack Obama's election night rally at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. 
A street scene is reflected in the window of a gift shop near the White House in Washington, DC. 
Mike Wegart, 30, stands in line to vote at the Venice Beach lifeguard station in Los Angeles. 
Obama supporter Tonya Lewis rallies for votes outside a polling station in Tampa, Florida. 
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan leaves a campaign plane in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday. 
President Obama greets supporters outside a campaign office in Chicago Tuesday. 
A jogger on The Strand in the Los Angeles area community of Hermosa Beach passes a directional sign to a polling place at sunrise. 
The stage is set for Obama's election night event in Chicago. 
James Tate, 45, holds a sign in support of the Republican ticket in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 
A nun waits in line to cast her vote in Janesville, Wisconsin. 
Children's books about politics line a wall where citizens wait to cast their vote in Janesville, Wisconsin. 
Volunteer David Bowser peeks outside the Pinellas County Democratic Party headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida. 
Election inspector Jim Nodorft prepares to hang the U.S. flag outside the Smelser Town Hall as polls opened at 7 a.m. in Georgetown, Wisconsin. 
People head to a polling station at Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Tuesday. 
The sunrise is visible through a bus window on Election Day in Chicago. 
Voters enter Washington Mill Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, to cast their ballots Tuesday. 
Rain doesn't deter voters from waiting in line Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Sunshine State -- with its 29 electoral votes -- will be a key player in determining the next president. 
A young girl peers out from under a voting booth as her mother casts a ballot at the Bishop Leo O'Neil Youth Center in Manchester, New Hampshire. 
William Carpenter, an assistant fire chief, puts up an election rules sign at the entrance of a firehouse polling station Tuesday in Port Royal, Virginia. 
Poll worker David Smith uses a tape measure to mark a boundary at a Bowling Green, Ohio, school to keep local politicians 100 feet away from where voters cast ballots. 
Precinct official Bill Partlow inspects a voting machine before polls open Tuesday in Pineville, North Carolina. 
Voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, wait to cast the first Election Day ballots of the U.S. presidential race shortly after midnight. For the first time in the village's history, there was a draw, with Obama and Romney each receiving five votes. 
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Crowley on Election Day in America 
Strickland: Ohio goes Obama at 11:37 pm 
Campaign lawyers ready for legal fight Either situation could drag out the decision until mid-November or even longer, analysts say.
Whatever happens, we'll start to get some indicators shortly after the first wave of poll closings at 7 p.m. ET. Battleground states in that group include Virginia and much of Florida, with Ohio following at 7:30 p.m.
The portion of Florida that's in the Central time zone and many Midwestern states follow at 8 p.m. ET. West Coast states and Hawaii stop voting at 11 p.m. ET, and the last Americans will cast their ballots in Alaska by 1 a.m. ET Wednesday.
The first place to look: Virginia, according to analysts.
"One of the first things I'll look at are the margins in the northern Virginia suburbs closest to Washington, D.C., especially Prince William County," said CNN chief national correspondent John King.
Drama awaits in battleground states
"If Gov. Romney is ahead or at least in play there, it means Virginia is in play, and we could have a long, competitive night," King said. "If he's not in play, it could be over before we even get to the Central time zone."
CNN's chief politcal analyst, Gloria Borger, agreed that Virginia will have a lot to say about what happens later.
"We have to look at Loudoun County in Virginia, and if the president were to win Virginia, obviously, the path to 270 is a lot easier for him," she said. "But if Mitt Romney wins Virginia, it could be a much longer night."
CNN political reporter Peter Hamby said that results from early and absentee balloting in Pasco County, Florida, could also offer a tantalizing glimpse of what the night may hold.
Barack Obama won the early and absentee vote in the slightly Republican-leaning county in 2008. If Obama comes up trailing when those early votes are posted soon after polls close, it could indicate the president might have trouble carrying Florida and its crucial electoral votes, according to Hamby.
Frum: U.S. voting system is a disgrace
If Ohio becomes key to the election, it's possible that bag of popcorn isn't going to hold you.
If the margin separating Romney and Obama is particularly thin, the election in that key battleground state could ride on absentee and provisional ballots. And that could keep the nation in suspense for a whopping 10 days.
Ohio provisional ballots hold key
That's how long Ohio law gives poll workers to check the eligibility of provisional voters.
Ohio has one of the nation's highest rates of provisional voting, with 211,000 cast in 2008, according to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted. About 40,000 were later thrown out.
Husted says he thinks the election in Ohio will hinge on the state's central counties, and the results will be known before midnight.
"I really believe that we will be able to project a winner tonight," he said. "I think that people will have to stay up past their bedtime to be able to do that. But it's likely that we'll know by the end of the evening."
Popular-electoral split is possible
The worst nightmare scenario is a redux of 2000, when the nation suffered through weeks of uncertainty amid recounts and legal challenges surrounding the vote in Florida.
And, sorry to say it, as tightly contested as this race is, it is a possibility, analysts say.
"Between provisional balloting, absentee balloting and voting technology, I think there are untold different ways that this is a tense, contested election," said Rebecca Green, co-director of the Election Law Program at William & Mary Law School. "It's pretty certain there's going to be some litigation when this is over on November 6."
As we said -- who knows?
CNN's Bill Mears contributed to this report.
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