Well this is primarily for the Brits, but the contrast if you have always lived in the US is striking.
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In many countries when you watch the election results, you see who got the most votes and they win. Not in the US - I mean usually that is the result, but a) not always and b) that isn't how you watch the results.
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I am sure you know that our votes are tallied by state. And each state gets 2 votes by being a state and then 1 to 53 more based on population size. (Why 1 to 53, it is based on 435 representatives in the House and they are awarded by state population).
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Well, what is also interesting in closing times of the various state elections. Even though the news often knows the winner is before the polls close (Hell we all knew Obama would win California 2 months ago), no one predicts a winner of a state before all the polls in the state close. That is because in 1980 they predicted Ronald Reagan when all the polls in the Pacific were still open and a lot of people out west stopped voting.
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Side story, not me. My first vote was cast after Jimmy the Dunce Carter already conceded so I voted my first vote for President went to John Anderson: Independent footnote of American Politics.
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Back to voting times. And in 2000 they called Florida (for Gore as it turns out incorrectly) at 7:00PM, instead of waiting for that extra sliver that votes until 7:30. So now when you watch the results, note only do you not get really votes, the electoral (or state) votes trickle in at uneven closing times. Tight races may have to be wait to be called until actual votes are counted (like Ohio) but states where exit polls are overwhelming (like New York or South Carolina) are called right away.
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So even thought everyone was pretty sure Obama had won when Pennsylvania and Ohio were called for him, it wasn't official until 11:00PM Eastern, when all 4 Pacific states were called for Obama at once. By the way, this means that California, Oregon and Washington stop voting at 9PM local time and in Hawaii they have to stop at 7PM local time.
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There is this odd "no man's land" in the news about 5 minutes before the polls close, when everyone is just waiting to hear what comes next and all the different networks are just waiting for the second hand to call some states.