20 hours agoShareSave

Americans are choosing their next president, in a contest being closely watched around the world.

The race is exceptionally close and either Vice-President Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump could win.

Voters also selecting members of Congress, politicians who play a key part in passing laws that can have a profound effect on life in the US.

When is the US presidential election?

The 2024 election is on Tuesday, 5 November 2024.

Ahead of election day, tens of millions of voters have taken part in early voting events across the US.

The winner will serve a term of four years in the White House, starting in January 2025.

On the world stage, the US leader has considerable freedom to represent the country abroad.

Within the US, the president has the power to pass some laws on their own but he or she must mostly work with Congress to pass legislation.

Who are the candidates for president?

Former president Donald Trump is representing the Republican Party. He won the party’s support with a massive lead over his rivals.

Trump chose Ohio senator JD Vance to be his vice-presidential running mate.

Kamala Harris, the current vice-president, is the candidate for the Democratic Party. She joined the race after President Joe Biden dropped out and no other Democrats stood against her.

Her running mate for vice-president is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

There are also some independent candidates running for president. One of the most prominent was Robert F Kennedy Jr, but he suspended his campaign in August and backed Trump.

• How Donald Trump came back from the political abyss
• What Harris’s years as a prosecutor reveal about who she is now

What do Democrats and Republicans stand for?

The Democrats are the liberal political party, known for supporting civil rights, a social safety net and measures to address climate change.

In the 2024 election, issues highlighted by Harris include tackling the cost-of-living crisis and supporting abortion rights.

The Republicans are the conservative political party. They have stood for lower taxes, shrinking the size of the government and gun rights.

Issues Trump has campaigned on include tackling illegal immigration and ending inflation to “make America affordable again”.

How does the US presidential election work?

The winner is not the person who gets the most votes overall.

Instead, both candidates compete to win contests held across the 50 states.

Each state has a certain number of so-called electoral college votes, partly based on population. There are a total of 538 up for grabs and the winner is the candidate that gets 270 or more.

All but two states have a winner-takes-all rule, so whichever candidate has the highest number of votes is awarded all of its electoral college votes.

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 battleground or swing states.

It is possible for a candidate to win the most votes nationally – like Hillary Clinton did in 2016 – but still be defeated.

• How does US electoral college choose presidents?

Who can vote in the US presidential election?

Most US citizens aged 18 or over are eligible to vote.

Each state has its own voter registration process and deadline.

Who else is being elected in November?

All of the attention will be on who wins the presidency, but voters will also be choosing new members of Congress – where laws are passed – when they fill in their ballots.

Congress consists of the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats are up for election, and the Senate, where 34 seats are being contested.

Republicans currently control the House, which initiates spending plans. Democrats are in charge of the Senate, which votes on key appointments in government.

These two chambers pass laws and can act as a check on White House plans if the controlling party in either chamber disagrees with the president.

When will we know who has won the election?

Usually the winner is declared on the night of the election, but in 2020 it took a few days to count all the votes.

The period after the election is known as the transition, if there is a change of president.

This gives the new administration time to appoint cabinet ministers and make plans for the new term.

The president is officially sworn into office in January in a ceremony known as the inauguration, held on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC.

5 hours agoShareSave

Sam Cabral

BBC News, Washington

American voters go to the polls on 5 November to choose their next president.

US election results have sometimes been declared within hours of the polls closing, but this year’s tight contest could mean a longer wait.

When is the 2024 presidential election result expected?

In some presidential races the victor has been named late on election night, or early the next morning. This time, the knife-edge race in many states could mean media outlets wait longer before projecting who has won.

Democrat Kamala Harris, the current vice-president, and Republican Donald Trump, the former president, have been running neck-and-neck for weeks.

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.

0:53BBC’s Sumi Somaskanda explains when a new president will be announced

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.

Other scenarios that could cause delays include any election-related disorder, particularly at polling locations.

On the other hand, vote-counting has sped up in some areas, including the crucial state of Michigan, and far fewer votes will be cast by mail than in the last election, which was during the Covid pandemic.

• Follow live election updates
• US election polls: Who is winning – Harris or Trump?

When have previous presidential election results been announced?

The 2020 election took place on Tuesday 3 November. However, US TV networks did not declare Joe Biden the winner until late morning on Saturday 7 November, after the result in Pennsylvania became clearer.

In other recent elections, voters have had a much shorter wait.

In 2016, when Trump won the presidency, he was declared the winner shortly before 03:00 EST (08:00 GMT) the day after the election.

In 2012, when Barack Obama secured a second term, his victory was projected before midnight on polling day itself.

However, the 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore was a notable exception.

The vote was held on 7 November, but the two campaigns went to war over a tight contest in Florida and the race was not decided until 12 December. The US Supreme Court voted to end the state’s recount process, which kept Bush in place as winner and handed him the White House.

What are the key states to watch in 2024?

Across the country, the first polls will close at 18:00 EST (23:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening and the last polls will close at 01:00 EST (06:00 GMT) early on Wednesday.

But this race is expected to come down to results from seven swing states. These are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Polls close at different times in different regions. State-specific rules could prolong counting in some states, while other states may report partial figures moments after the last in-person vote is cast. Also, some absentee and mail-in ballots, including votes by members of the military and Americans living overseas, are normally among the last to be counted.

Georgia – Polls close in the Peach State at19:00 EST (00:00 GMT). Early and mail-in ballots will be counted first, ahead of in-person votes. Georgia’s top election official estimates that about 75% of votes will be counted within the first two hours, with a full tally possible expected by later in the night.

North Carolina – Polls close thirty minutes after Georgia. North Carolina’s results are expected to be announced before the end of the night, however, complications may arise in areas that were hit by a hurricane in September.

Pennsylvania – Voting ends at 20:00 EST (01:00 GMT) in the Keystone State – the crown jewel of all the swing states in this election cycle. Like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania does not allow counting to begin until the morning of the election, leading to an expected delay in results. Experts agree that it may take at least 24 hours before enough votes are counted for a winner to emerge.

Michigan – Voting concludes at 21:00 EST (02:00 GMT) in the Wolverine State. Michigan allows officials to begin counting votes one week before election day, but they are not allowed to reveal the results until these polls shut. Michigan’s top election official has said that a result should not be expected until the “end of the day” on Wednesday.

Wisconsin – Results should come in shortly after polls close at 21:00 EST for smaller counties. However, it often takes longer for major populations centres to tabulate votes, leading experts to predict that the state won’t have a result until at least Wednesday.

Arizona – Initial results could come as early as22:00 EST (03:00 GMT), however, they won’t paint a complete picture. The state’s largest county says not to expect results until early Wednesday morning. On top of that, postal ballots dropped off on election day could take up to 13 days to count, according to officials in Maricopa County, the largest district in the state.

Nevada – Votes here could also take days to count, because the state allows mail-in ballots to qualify as long as they were sent on election day and arrive no later than 9 November.

5 hours agoShareSave

Rachel Looker

BBC News, Washington

Elon Musk’s political group can keep awarding $1m (£722,000) to voters in swing states, a judge has ruled.

The giveaway by Mr Musk’s America PAC is set to end on Tuesday, and the final recipient has already been determined, a lawyer for the billionaire said in a court hearing on Monday.

In a surprising turn, the lawyer revealed that people receiving the money have not been chosen randomly in a lottery-style contest, as many believed, but were selected by the group.

Philadelphia District Attorney Lawrence Krasner had sued to stop what he called an “an illegal lottery” after Musk announced he would give the money to one voter in a swing state each day until Election Day.

Pennsylvania Judge Angelo Foglietta did not immediately give a reason for the ruling, made a few hours after the hearing, according to the Associated Press.

“The $1m recipients are not chosen by chance,” the lawyer, Chris Gober, said during the hearing, according to the Associated Press. “We know exactly who will be announced as the $1m recipient today and tomorrow.”

Mr Gober told the court that America PAC has already determined the final recipient will be a voter from Michigan, US media reported.

On Monday, America PAC announced a man named Joshua in Arizona had been awarded the day’s sum.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, which Mr Musk owns, the group added: “Every day until Election Day, a person who signs will be selected to earn $1m as a spokesperson for America PAC.”

But when the world’s richest man unveiled the giveaway last month, many believed it was a random drawing for registered voters who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments of the US Constitution.

“We are going to be awarding $1m randomly to people who have signed the petition, every day, from now until the election,” Musk told a campaign event.

A few days later, the US justice department warned that the group could be breaking election laws, which forbid paying people to register to vote. Krasner’s office sued to stop it.

Mr Musk has been aggressively campaigning for Republican White House candidate Donald Trump in swing states across the country, and his committee has been pushing hard in Pennsylvania, where polls suggest Trump is in a tie with his Democratic rival, Vice-President Kamala Harris.

A lawyer in Krasner’s office told Reuters that Mr Gober’s comments in court were “a complete admission of liability”.

During the hearing, prosecutors played a video where Mr Musk, who is also the chief executive of SpaceX, said that “all we ask” is that the winners serve as spokespeople for the group, Reuters reported.

But Chris Young, the director of America PAC, said in court that the recipients are screened and must have values aligned with the group, US media reported.

Those who receive the money sign non-disclosure agreements that block them from publicly discussing the terms of their contracts, according to Reuters.

Mr Musk did not attend Monday’s hearing.

Also on Monday, Joe Rogan released an episode of his podcast featuring a nearly three-hour interview with Mr Musk.

In a post promoting the podcast on X, he said he would be endorsing former President Donald Trump.

“He [Musk] makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way,” Rogan wrote.