Voters in Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, New Jersey, New York and Virginia have all already started casting their ballots.
Of these, New York has the most electoral college votes, with 28 up for grabs there. The state with the fewest is Maine, with four.
Kamala Harris has shared her first post on X since US polls opened just over an hour ago.
“America, this is the moment to make your voices heard,” the current vice-president says.
Her opponent, Donald Trump, hasn’t posted since polls opened but did say on his Truth Social platform about three hours ago: “IT’S TIME TO GET OUT AND VOTE—SO TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
That was about an hour after his final campaign rally, in Michigan, wrapped up.
What else are Americans voting on today?
It’s not just a choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump today – voters in America have plenty else to decide on:
- Abortion rights are on the ballot in 10 states – including the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada
- One third of the US Senate – 34 of its 100 seats – is also up for grabs. Democrats currently control the Senate by a one-seat margin
- In the US House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, all 435 seats are up for election, as they are every two years. Republicans currently have a slim majority
- Recreational or medical marijuana use is also on the ballot in four states – Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota
- Referendums on voting and elections – in some areas, voters will also choose how they want their elections to be run
A quick guide to the candidates:
Kamala Harris, US vice-president
Age: 60
Party: Democratic Party
Campaign promises: Harris’s catchphrase is “We are not going back”, referring to the policies of former president Donald Trump. She supports abortion rights, has launched an economic plan to ban price gouging at the grocery store, and says she will “end America’s housing shortage”.
Major moment of 2024: Her headlining speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, barely a month after Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Donald Trump, former US President
Age: 78
Party: Republican Party
Campaign promises: Trump says he will “seal the border” to halt illegal immigrants, has pledged across-the-board tax cuts, proposed a 10% tariff on all US imports and vowed to “drill, baby, drill” to bring down energy prices.
Major moment of 2024: Surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, a lasting image of which showed him with his fist in the air and blood on his face.
When will we know who’s won?
It’s hard to say, in all honesty.
Polls close at different times in different states, but by 23:00 on the East Coast in the US (04:00 GMT) all states will have closed their polls – except for Hawaii and Alaska where polls close a little later.
Traditionally, it was soon after the close of voting at 23:00 in California that the race as a whole was called for one candidate or the other. But few observers are expecting a speedy resolution this year, with some suggesting it could take days, rather than hours, to know the victor.
Early tallies may also be misleading. A candidate who takes an early lead through in-person votes may end up being overtaken when postal votes and other types of ballots are added later. This happened in Michigan in 2020 – Trump took an early lead through in-person votes but was later overtaken by Biden.
Basically, it’s a bit of a waiting game, but we’ll be here to guide you through the latest until, during and after the moment the result is announced.
How do you actually win the US election?
The winner of this election is not necessarily the person who gets the most votes from the public – bear with us while we explain that.
Instead, US presidential candidates compete to win contests held across the US’s 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.
Each state or territory runs its own election, and then send a designated number of electors – which is roughly based on its population size – to vote in the electoral college.
There are a total of 538 votes up for grabs – the winner is the candidate that gets 270 or more.
Most states lean heavily towards one party or the other, so the focus is on about seven states where either of them could win – these are known as the swing states, which we took you through a little earlier.
When will the winner be announced? And other key questions
US election day is upon us, so now’s as good a time as any to remind ourselves of how this contest works.
How do you win?
The next president of the US is determined by which candidate wins a majority in the Electoral College. Each state is allocated a number of electoral college votes depending on its population. Across the US there are 538 electoral college votes in total. In 48 of the 50 states, the candidate who wins the most individual votes is awarded all of its electoral college votes. The winning candidate needs to get a majority of those – so at least 270.
When will we know?
This is a tricky question, and the answer is – “it depends”. Some states can turn around results quite quickly, but for many it could be a long process – especially if there’s a large number of early and mail-in ballots which are counted on the night after those cast in person. At the last US presidential election in 2020, it wasn’t until the Saturday after polling day that US media were confident enough to call the result.
When will the new president get sworn in?
One thing we do know is that whoever wins does not become president until inauguration day – when they are sworn in outside the US Capitol in Washington DC by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. That day is Monday 20 January 2025.
