Millions of voters across the United States gear up to cast their ballots on Tuesday as Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump go head-to-head in a race that remains too close to call.
With the country stretching across six time zones, Election Day is a massive undertaking – and voting will begin as early as 5am EST (10:00 GMT) and go as late as 1am (06:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
Polls show Harris, 60, who is the current vice-president and Trump, 78, who is a former president, running neck and neck nationally and in the battleground states or the “swing states” (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin).
More than 78 million voters have already cast ballots, according to Election Lab at the University of Florida.
Voters will also elect 34 US senators (out of 100) and all 435 members for the US House of Representatives, among other posts that are up for grabs.
Final Calls In the final days of their campaigns, both hopefuls were flooding social media sites, TV and radio stations with a last round of campaign ads, and racing to knock on doors and make calls.
Harris ended her campaign in Philadelphia, where she doubled down on the economy, and outlined her plan to “build an economy where we bring down the cost of living”.
Trump predicted the “greatest victory” in his closing argument in Michigan.
He linked immigration to a high crime rate, blending claims about voter fraud with warnings about migrants committing crimes and promises to revitalize the United States.
“Over the past four years, Americans have suffered one catastrophic failure, betrayal and humiliation after another,” Trump said.
Harris and Trump offer two starkly different visions for the US’ foreign policy.
The Democratic candidate has fully aligned herself with the Biden administration’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war, while the republican candidate vowed to “fundamentally re-evaluate” the country’s approach on the US aid to Ukraine and claimed that he will end the nearly three-year war on his first day in office On the situation in Palestine and Lebanon, or what the US calls the “Middle East crisis”, Harris vowed to back the Zionist entity’s so-called “right to defend itself”, and ensure ‘Israel’ has the ability to do so, rejecting the arms embargo.
She also pledged to work to end the war in Gaza and to “allow Palestinians to realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
For his part, Trump has long cast himself as a champion of the Zionist entity and vowed to “stand with Israel, and seek peace in the Middle East.”At a rally in East Lansing, Michigan, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke of the civilian victims of Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon, promising to end the war in Gaza, if elected https://t.co/dtc8eKDET8 pic.twitter.com/bOFsSZwbKR
— Reuters Asia (@ReutersAsia) November 4, 2024
When is Election Result Expected? In some presidential elections the victor has been named late on election night, or early the next morning.Donald Trump says, We go to war, we bomb, and we leave.
We bombed the entire Middle East, and then we left.
What did we get? Nothing.
— Globe Eye News (@GlobeEyeNews) November 1, 2024
However, the Presidential hopefuls are running neck and neck in this year’s race, meaning that in many states media outlets may wait longer before projecting who has won.
Narrow victories could also mean recounts.
In the key swing state of Pennsylvania, for example, a state-wide recount would be required if there’s a half-percentage-point difference between the votes cast for the winner and loser.
In 2020, the margin was just over 1.1 percentage points.
Legal challenges are also possible.
More than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed, including challenges to voter eligibility and voter roll management, by Republicans.