Early voting for the US election is officially underway, with several states opening their early voting processes over the past two weeks.
The latest polls show it’s likely to be a tight race for the White House between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
The official election day is 5 November.
Early voting
Voting rules vary across the U.S.
There are two main types of early voting: in-person and mail-in.
In-person voting involves people showing up to an official centre, like a school or government building, to cast their ballot.
Mail-in voting requires voters to send a postal vote. Some states, including California and Vermont, send ballots to every registered voter.
Over the past few days, polling stations have opened in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Virginia.
In the weeks leading up to 5 November, more states will open up early voting centres.
Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire are the only three states that don’t offer in-person early voting.
Voting in the U.S. is not compulsory. Turnout at the previous election in 2020 was 66.8%, higher than 2016.
Latest polls
Opinion polling shows the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris remains tight.
Online polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight averages out polling data collected by multiple companies. Their national poll shows Harris with an average lead of 2.9%.
However, the final outcome will depend on “swing states”, which have historically switched between voting for Republicans (Trump’s party) and Democrats (Harris’ party).
Out of the early-voting states, South Dakota has voted Republican in every election since 1964.
Virginia and Minnesota are both reliably Democrat states, with their latest polls showing Harris in a strong lead over Trump.
Pennsylvania is a key swing state. FiveThirtyEight’s aggregator shows Harris narrowly ahead (1.5%). The contest is expected to be very close.
In 2016, Pennsylvania’s vote for Donald Trump was a key factor in his win over Hillary Clinton.
