Election Day arrived and as the votes started pouring in, Steve Kornacki getting ready for a late night; A night that he did not expect to end with a clear result.

The 45-year-old national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC famous for his devotion Touching on real-time election coverage and a love of khakis, he highlights an important lesson he’s learned from covering elections for a decade: elections aren’t always decided quickly.

“Each state has different rules and procedures, and the increase in mail voting over the last few years has complicated this and extended the timeline in many states,” Kornacki told PEOPLE.

He adds: “I think there’s a bit of a mystery heading into election night this year. It wouldn’t be surprising to me if it took a few days again. “I think there’s a wide range of possibilities here.”

Explaining why the results may not be announced on election night, Kornacki notes that many swing states that were not announced the morning after the 2020 presidential election have not changed their rules since then.

“I think the two states that we know in advance are that it’s going to take a while if the results are pretty close; Arizona and Nevada, because they have a ton of ballots that they don’t even start processing and counting until after election day,” the reporter explains. “Pennsylvania is just a wild card in terms of timing.”

One of the effects of COVID-19 was the increase in mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election, which slowed the results. While Kornacki acknowledged that mail-in voting could still delay the process, he told PEOPLE he expects to see fewer mail-in ballots and earlier in-person voting this time around, potentially leading to faster results than in 2020.

“People who went to the polls before Election Day have already cast millions of ballots,” he says. “This is a much more effective set of votes than voting by mail. So I think there’s a chance it could happen faster than 2020.”

Rather than the method of voting — Kornacki’s preferred method is early morning on Election Day, when lines are not too long — the MSNBC reporter emphasizes that the closeness of this race will likely be the reason for things to slow down if voting is concluded. Be true.

“You can see how close these polls are in the battleground states. “We may have very thin margins here and that will delay being able to call the states.”

Whether the election takes place a few days later or that very night, Kornacki is there on an adrenaline high with his trusty touchscreen election map.

“I think I’d be honored if people wanted to listen to me, and I’d be a little excited too because they’re looking for what I’m looking for: the excitement of witnessing it all,” he says.

“It’s like watching a picture of the development of one county, one state at a time. “Just the experience of watching it, trying to make sense of it, and trying to get someone to win it in the end, it engages my mind and drives me.”

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As viewers prepare to watch, Kornacki is eager to experience it all with them. “This election night is a big adventure that I’m going through with the audience, so I kind of feel like, ‘Come on, come on.’ Let’s all enjoy the journey together.’ ”