US Presidential Election: How Voting Works, News, and Results. Constantly updated
Today, November 5, millions of Americans are voting in the presidential election, the outcome of which is considered unpredictable: the ratings of both candidates are extremely close. Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump continued to campaign until late Monday evening, both declaring their confidence in their victory. To win, a candidate needs to get at least 270 electoral votes out of 538. In most states, the rule is that the winner gets all the electoral votes, regardless of what percentage advantage in the popular vote they received.
Photo: L9871456 | Dreamstime.com
Polls across the U.S. opened at 05:00 a.m. EST, with the first states closing at 18:00 p.m. EST. The early results are in, though: Harris and Trump each received three votes in the tiny New Hampshire community of Dixville Notch, where polls opened just after midnight EST and closed shortly after all six registered voters had cast their ballots. It's a longstanding tradition at the site, with polls only open for a few minutes each election.
Since the margin between Harris and Trump could be very close in many states, it is possible that the election results will not be known for several days, until every last vote has been counted in the states with the smallest margins. However, it is also possible that everything will be decided fairly quickly, with the winner being announced within a few hours of the end of voting.
According to polls, Harris is slightly ahead of Trump in popularity among all U.S. residents, but the fate of this election is not being decided at the national level, but in seven swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). According to opinion polls, Trump is slightly ahead of his opponent in Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona, and Harris is leading by the same minimal margin in Wisconsin and Michigan. In Pennsylvania, both candidates are neck and neck.
We will update this material with the latest information on results and details from polling stations.
Today, Americans elect not only the president, but also members of both houses of Congress. Currently, the Republicans have a majority in the lower House of Representatives, and the Democrats have a majority in the Senate. Opinion polls indicate the possibility of a "castling" in which the lower house will become Democratic and the upper house Republican.
In addition, 11 states will also elect governors today, and 10 regions will vote on abortion laws that will be passed or rejected in those specific areas.
Latest Election News
November 6, 07:00 EST
Donald Trump has won the US presidential election, according to projections of the results. He has at least 276 electoral votes (270 are needed to win). These are not official results yet, but projections are usually right.
November 6, 00:15 EST
The projection of the voting results is now: Trump - 230 electoral votes; Harris - 210. In most swing states, it is still impossible to predict the results.
It is unlikely that a winner will be determined before the morning. The gap in the swing states is so small that the results there will only be determined after the votes are fully counted, and that will certainly take several hours.
November 5, 21:20 EST
Electoral college vote projections change almost every minute. Trump currently has 177; Harris has 99.
November 5, 21:10 EST
New projection of electoral vote distribution: Trump - 137; Harris - 99.
November 5, 21:00 EST
According to preliminary vote counts in states where polling stations have already closed, Trump now has 120 electoral votes, while Harris has 99. But these aren't official results yet; in many of these regions, even half the votes haven't been counted yet. They're projections of the winner, based on historical voting trends and who's leading after some of the ballots have been counted.
November 5, 19:00 EST
The first results of the vote count are in in two states where polling stations have already partially closed.
In Indiana (11 electors), Trump receives 56,6%, in Kentucky (8 electors) - 63,9%.
In both states, less than 10% of the ballots have been counted so far. But Trump's victory in these states is expected.
November 5, 18:00 EST
Trump leads Harris in most swing states, according to polling aggregator RealClearPolitics. The gap is 0,8% in favor of the Republican.
But according to Exitpool Edison Research, 48% of Americans voted for Harris, and 44% for Trump. But with an indirect election system, this doesn’t matter. More voters voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but Trump won the presidency after collecting more electoral votes.
November 5, 17:50 EST
Trump says he has information about 'massive fraud' in Philadelphia presidential election — the largest city in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia police said they were unaware of the fraud Trump was talking about.
More than half of Trump's supporters believe the election was unfair.
November 5, 14:10 EST
Russians threatened to bomb polling stations in Georgia. Georgia closed two polling stations for a few minutes this morning due to a bomb threat. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger later said the bomb threats came from Russia.
"We have heard several threats of Russian origin. In the interest of public safety, we always check that," he added, saying the motive was an attempt to "destabilize America."
Raffensperger did not specify how exactly state officials determined Russia's involvement in the bomb threats.
A total of five calls were made to the polling stations, but the threat turned out to be false. Two polling stations were evacuated, but all of them are now open and voting is continuing.
November 5, 14:00 EST
American astronauts voted in the presidential election while on the space station, and posted a patriotic photo. The astronauts are wearing socks in patriotic colors. Two of the astronauts' socks read "Proud to be an American."
How astronauts vote: Bulletins completed in space are transmitted to Earth the same way most data is transmitted between the space station and mission control—via NASA's Near Space Network (a constellation of satellites in space that communicate with antennas on Earth).
November 5, 13:30 EST
More than 80 million people have voted so far: Eighty-three million people have already cast ballots, according to the latest data from 83 states and the District of Columbia. That's more than half of the roughly 48 million votes cast in the 158 presidential election.
Pennsylvania and Florida expect quick vote counts: Florida's election results will be in by the time "you go to bed tonight," Secretary of State Cord Byrd said. Philadelphia officials hope to complete the vote count by midday Wednesday, Nov. 6.
November 5, 13:00 EST
The elections are proceeding calmly. Extreme weather conditions and other "temporary infrastructure disruptions" were reported in some states, but no significant incidents occurred.
Five bomb threats were called into polling stations in Fulton County, Georgia, this morning. The alarms turned out to be false.
That forced two polling places to be temporarily evacuated for about 30 minutes each, officials said. The county, which includes Atlanta, went to court to extend the hours.
Technical issues in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, prevented some voters from scanning their ballots, and election officials also took the matter to court.
November 5, 12:15 EST
Donald Trump Votes in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife Melania. After voting, he spoke about his plans for the evening, noting that he had a "significant advantage."
Trump also said he did not feel the need to tell his supporters not to resort to violence if he loses.
"I don't have to tell them that," Trump said when asked if he would tell his supporters there should be no violence.
“But if necessary, will you tell them?” the journalist asked.
"I don't have to tell them there shouldn't be any violence. And there won't be any violence. My supporters are not violent. I don't have to tell them. And I certainly don't want any violence, but I don't have to tell my supporters anything. These are great people. These are people who don't believe in violence. Unlike you. From your question, it appears you believe in violence," Trump said.
For context, Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results after Trump lost and refused to concede defeat.
Kamala Harris said she voted by mail last week.
Biden also took advantage of the early voting opportunity, he stood in line almost an hour to vote for Harris.
Read also on ForumDaily:
Trump vs. Harris: Five Reasons They Could Each Win the Election
Battle of Economic Programs: Who Will Make the US and the World Richer – Harris or Trump
Biden stood in line for nearly 40 minutes to vote for Kamala Harris
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