The big change this year is that Georgia will have the vast majority of its ballots counted by election night.
And the order of results could cause "blue/red shifts" if the voting patterns between the two parties are notably different. Mail voting is still expected to be mostly Democratic this year, but not as disproportionate as 2020. Likewise with in-person early voting. Election day voting is expected to be disproportionately Republican, but less so than 2020.
If it is a Harris blowout we should know quite early given Georgia and North Carolina. If it is a close election, we could be waiting on Pennsylvania/Nevada/Arizona for several days.
Here are how the 7 battleground states will go:
Arizona: at the earliest Wednesday. Mail ballots will take awhile and so Arizona might be several days. Mail ballot results are reported first, so expect a red shift.
Georgia: the vast majority of votes will be counted by 10:30 on Tuesday. Results should be available election night or Wednesday. Early votes are released first, so expect a red shift.
Michigan: a new law allows ballot pre-processing. So Michigan should be faster than previous years. But still probably results early Wednesday morning.
Nevada: Nevada allows votes by mail to be counted if they arrive after election day, so Nevada may take awhile. Wednesday at the earliest. If it is close, it could take several days. Expect a blue shift.
North Carolina: late Tuesday/early Wednesday. Early vote results are reported first. So expect red shift.
Pennsylvania: no pre-processing of mail ballots, so Wednesday or Thursday if it is close. Expect a blue shift.
Wisconsin: no pre-processing, so early Wednesday. Expect a blue shift.