Today, millions of Americans will have their chance to vote in the 2024 Presidential Election.
Voters are choosing between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
For those watching in Australia, here’s an easy step-by-step guide on how the day will run.
Timing
Here’s how today will play out (in AEDT):
10am: The first polls close in eastern Indiana and Kentucky. These states straddle two time zones.
11am: Polls close in some eastern states, including Georgia.
12pm: Polls close in more than a dozen states — stretching from Maine on the east coast to Kansas in the midwest, and Texas.
1pm: Polls will start closing in western states like Arizona.
2pm: More western states will close, including Nevada.
3pm: California, Oregon, and Washington – all safe Democrat states – will close.
4pm: Alaska and Hawai’i will be the final states to close their polls.
Vote counting
Every state has its own rules about counting votes.
In all but 12 states, officials are not allowed to start counting absentee and mail ballots until Election Day.
In 2020, an unprecedented number of people voted by mail, which slowed down the process.
At that election, Democrats were more likely to vote by mail, which was why an early Republican swing in some states turned out to be misleading.
Swing states
Most states lean so strongly Republican or Democrat that it’s hardly a contest.
However, there are seven swing states that have switched between voting Republican and Democrat at recent elections, and where the polls are particularly close.
The swing states are Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada.
It’s expected that Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada will take the longest to count their votes.
Final result
Historically, the result has been known on the night of the election (during Wednesday daytime in Australia).
However, in 2020, it took four days for the final election result to be called. It wasn’t until the Saturday (Sunday in Australia), that Joe Biden was projected to be the next President of the U.S.
Experts are predicting a similarly close race for this election. However, new counting systems in some states could speed the counting up.
