As Americans head to the polls, it is almost a foregone conclusion that the presidential election results will come down to challenges and recounts. Various experts have been predicting as much for weeks. Even the most optimistic polls are not far outside the margin of error especially in the so-called "battle ground" states, Ohio being the poster boy for that trite and stale phrase.


As all eyes shift to Ohio today in the 2012 presidential election, the Buckeye State is bracing itself for a possible recount in the event of a close voter tally-a process that could take the election into next month.
Ohio has been the top contested of the swing states between President Barack Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney, with its 18 Electoral votes putting whoever wins it in solid position to win the White House.
Should Obama win the state, most scenarios would project him to need only one or two more swing states to secure reelection. For Romney, the state is also as critical, as no Republican presidential candidate has ever won the White House without Ohio.

With the precedent set by the Al Gore, the first presidential candidate to seek a court ruling, is there any doubt that the courts will become involved? And with that, with so many reports on both sides of voter tampering, the failure to get ballots to servicemen overseas, reports of illegal aliens being allowed to vote, especially in battleground states and suspected cases of voter intimidation, those court challengers may take weeks, not months. It was well past Thanksgiving when the results of 2004 were final, even though many could or would not accept that finality.

So the question becomes, whether Americans will know who is their president before Christmnas.