US is witnessing a close election battle between Republican former President Donald Trump and his democratic counterpart Kamala Harris.
Finally the day comes when election started in US. After months of intense campaigning by democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her Republican counterpart Donald Trump, American will comes out to vote for their next president.
The first ballots were cast in the minutes after midnight (US time zone) in a tiny New Hampshire Township along the US Canada border.
Former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to power, held rallies in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan while Harris address supporters in Philadelphia and Peters burg in Pennsylvania
At the final rally Donald Trump argued that his real opponent was ‘ Evil Democrat system’ not the ‘Kamala Harris‘. While Harris ended with a pledge to ‘Turn the page on a decade of politics that has been driven by fear and division’.
Various polls have predicted a neck to neck contest, which brings the focus on the swing States to decide the fate of presidential election.
In the US, most of States have a very clear preferences for either the republicans or democratic candidate. But only the seven key states that decide the result are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
Winning the majority of the seven States is very essential for candidates to secure 270 electoral votes need to win the election.
In 2024, Pennsylvania has emerged as the biggest prize between both candidate. It has most 19 electoral votes then any other state, it could possibly define out of Trump and Harris who is going to clinches the white House.
US has electoral college system of voting to elect the President and vice President. Instead of direct voting, each state is assigned a certain number of ‘Electoral Votes’ based on its representation in congress (The total number of senators and House representatives).
Electors:
Each state has electors equal to its congressional delegation.(House + Senate seats). these are 538 electors total including three of Washington DC.
Popular votes:
In the most States, the winner of the popular votes receives all the states electoral votes except in Marine and Nebraska, which use proportional allocation.
To win the presidency, a candidate needs a majority of electoral votes of 270 out of 538.