Presidential elections are to be held in the United States on November 5 (local time) and the race for the White House has become tight.
More than 160 million voters are expected to cast their votes, resulting in either the return of Republican former President Donald Trump (78) to power or electing America’s first lady, Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris (60), to the White House.
According to surveys, both candidates are deadlocked in the race and it is estimated that more than 75 million voters have already voted. Currently no candidate has a lead in polling in enough states to reach 270 electoral votes.
President Joe Biden, 81, the Democratic Party nominee, had withdrawn from the election in July three months ago after a televised debate with Trump. After this Kamala Harris stepped forward as the Democratic candidate.
Harris will campaign in Pennsylvania on Monday (local time), then visit Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, Trump survived an assassination attempt while addressing a rally near Butler in Pennsylvania, where the US Secret Service killed the shooter. Pictures of him punching the air and saying “fight” went viral. Republican candidates are counting on concerns about the economy and inflation to help them reach the White House.
On Monday (local time) he will visit Raleigh in North Carolina, Reading and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and Grand Rapids in Michigan – three of the seven battleground states.
According to the final national NBC News poll of the 2024 US presidential campaign, Kamala Harris is getting the same support as Donald Trump at 49 percent of registered voters, while only 2 percent are undecided.
US election process
The US presidential election is held every four years on the first Tuesday of November. On election day, people in every state across the country go to their polling place and vote for their favorite candidate and their contesting colleagues.
Harris and Trump’s running mates in this election are Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance, respectively.
When people cast their vote, they are actually voting for a group of people called electorates. This is in contrast to the process of electing members of the US Congress, who are elected directly by voters.
Except in the states of Maine and Nebraska, if a candidate receives a majority of the votes of the people of a state, the candidate will receive all of the electoral votes of that state.
The presidential candidate receiving the most electoral votes becomes President of the United States.
The Electoral College is a process in which electors or representatives from each state, in numbers proportional to the state’s population, cast their votes and determine who will be president.
Each state gets a certain number of electors based on the number of seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Washington DC gets three electors but other US territories get none. There are 538 electors in total (435 House of Representatives seats, 100 Senate seats, 3 for Washington DC).
The number of electors for a state is determined by adding the two, the number of U.S. Representatives and the number of senators in each state.
After the general election each voter casts one vote and the candidate who gets more than half (270) votes wins. After the ballots are cast, all votes go into a statewide tally.
Washington DC and 48 states use a winner-take-all process where the election winner receives all of that state’s electors.
Maine and Nebraska are exceptions because they have a proportional system.
To become President a candidate has to “win” at least 270 electors. Five times in US history, a candidate has won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College.
In 2016, Trump won the presidency over Hillary Clinton despite trailing by nearly three million votes nationwide.
Voting expected till 4th November
NBC News and Emerson College estimate a tie nationally at 49%-49%
Ipsos projects Harris with a three-point lead (49%-46%)
AtlassIntel projects Trump with a two-point lead (50%-48%).
Voting for House and Senate also on November 5
America will also vote on November 5 to elect 13 governors and both houses of Congress. Congress consists of the House of Representatives, or lower house, where all 435 seats are up for election. Representatives are elected from small districts in each state
The Senate is the upper house where 34 seats are up for election with two representatives from each state. The entire House of Representatives will be reelected, while one-third of the Senate will be renewed.
Currently, Republicans have a slim 8-seat majority in the House of Representatives, with 221 seats compared to the Democrats’ 214 seats.
According to the Cook Political Report, Democrats are set to win 205 districts, while Republicans have taken the lead in 208 districts. There are 22 “swing” states that will lead to an outcome.
In the Senate, Democrats currently control 47 seats, with four independent senators supporting them. Republicans have 49 seats.
If the number of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate is equal, the casting vote goes to the Vice President of the United States, who serves as President of the Senate.
According to CBS News, the outcome will be decided by Senate elections in 11 states: Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Montana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Nebraska. 5 of these are “swing” states
Inauguration Day takes place on January 20 on the steps of the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
First the oath is administered to the Vice President, then to the President.
What are battleground or swing states?
With most states leaning toward one party or the other, the focus is usually on a dozen or so states, known as battleground or swing states, where any one of them could win. .
There are 7 swing states in this election – divided into two groups the Sun Belt and the Rust Belt, also known as ‘Blue Wall’ states.
Sun Belt states include- Nevada (6), Arizona (11), North Carolina (16), Georgia (16)
Rust Belt states include Wisconsin (10), Michigan (15), Pennsylvania (19)
Between November 6 and December 11, states certify election results. Voters meet on 17 December to cast their official votes. Congress convenes to count and ratify the electoral votes on January 6, 2025, and the President-elect is sworn in on January 20, 2025.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
