U.S. Election Results: Who Will Win the Presidential Race?
Today, November 5, presidential elections are taking place in the USA. The results in several "swing" states will be crucial.
RBC-Ukraine reports on what Donald Trump and Kamala Harris bring to the voting, when to expect results, and how the votes are counted.
CONTENTS
The election campaign in the USA has concluded – on November 5, millions of Americans will head to polling stations to cast their votes for their presidential candidate. However, tens of millions of voters in the USA have already taken advantage of other options – voting early or sending their ballots by mail.
This presidential election in the USA is considered one of the least predictable in many years, as both candidates have equal chances of winning.
Candidate Ratings
There are two key candidates in the USA elections, Kamala Harris from the Democrats and Donald Trump from the Republicans. In recent months, they have been actively campaigning to sway undecided voters in their favor.
However, polls indicate that their ratings remain equal within the margin of error. This situation holds true both nationwide and in key "swing" states. According to an NBC poll conducted from October 30 to November 2, both Harris and Trump have 49% support.
Other polls yield very similar results, as do various mathematical models used to predict election outcomes. For more detailed ratings nationwide and for individual states, see the link.
In this context, the fate of the elections could be determined by just a few thousand votes, despite the fact that the population of the USA (including those who are not eligible to vote) exceeds 330 million.
When Will Results Be Available in Individual States
In the USA, votes are counted not manually, but with the help of special machines, so the voting results at polling places are often known within a few hours after polling closes.
In the USA, the media are the first to announce the winner of the presidential elections. They gather and summarize information from individual states. The USA has a unique election system where the population formally votes not directly for a candidate, but for electors who then must choose the president. Therefore, de jure separate elections occur simultaneously in each state.
Polling hours vary by state, but they typically operate from 5:00-7:00 AM to 6:00-8:00 PM. As past elections have shown, preliminary data on the winner may become known around 11:00 PM Eastern Time (6:00 AM in Kyiv).
What May Delay Vote Counting
Early voting is popular in the USA. Voters can either come to the polling place early, vote by mail, or in some states, vote by email. As of November 3, over 75 million voters in the USA have cast their ballots. Different states have varying procedures for counting mail-in votes. In some states, they can be counted early, while in others, only after voting ends on Election Day. It is the counting of these votes that may delay the announcement of results. This could take not just hours, but days or even weeks – especially if candidates begin to contest the counting results in court.
Recall that earlier RBC-Ukraine wrote about Trump's and Harris' positions regarding support for Ukraine.
Also, read how "swing" states may determine the outcome of the elections in the USA and why candidates pay them significant attention.
For more news about the presidential campaign, candidate ratings, and the "pitfalls" of the electoral system – read in the section "US Elections" on RBC-Ukraine.
This material used data from the us.gov website, NBC polls, and information about the governmental structure of the USA from open sources.