The 2024 US presidential election on Tuesday will see American voters choosing between Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. With this election, millions of Americans will choose their 47th President.
Key issues on which voters will decide their votes include abortion, immigration, marijuana legalization, sports betting, wages, housing, and taxes.
What is the process?
The winner will be determined by the Electoral College system and not the popular vote. The Electoral College is a body of electors from each state who ultimately select the President and Vice President. Each state’s number of electors corresponds to its population. In total, there are 538 electoral college votes, and a candidate needs at least 270 votes to win.
Most states have a “winner-takes-all” system, where the candidate who wins the popular vote in a state takes all of its electoral college votes. However, Maine and Nebraska use a proportional system. The electoral college voting happens in December.
When will voting start?
There is no set national time for voting to begin on the morning of November 5. However, most polls will open across the country between 7 am and 10 am local time. Voting will close in waves, with the first key moments coming after 7 pm ET when polls close in battleground states like Georgia and North Carolina, critical to both Trump and Harris's chances.
Who is winning?
While citizens of all the 50 states of and Washington DC will cast their ballots on November 5, it will be the swing states, also referred to as key battleground states, that will face intense scrutiny as they determine if Harris or Trump is elected as the next President of the United States.
Tracking who is winning in which state:
(These lists will be updated as and when the results come in. Stay tuned!)
Key battleground states
Arizona
Georgia
Michigan
Nevada
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Other States
Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana - Trump leading
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky - Trump leading
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont - Harris leading
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wyoming
The polls are scheduled for November 5, 2024. This will be the 60th quadrennial election. By 8 pm ET, results from states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, part of the "blue wall”, will provide a clearer picture of how the race is shaping up. Final key states such as Arizona and Nevada will have their results by 10 pm ET.
In the last presidential election in 2020, it took four days after voting closed for Joe Biden to be declared the winner due to razor-thin margins in the crucial battleground states. Following the delayed results, some states changed their election laws to speed up the election count.
