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U.S. election day: What you need to know and how to find results
One of the most divisive races for the White House in recent memory will come to an end on Tuesday as Americans head to the polls, tasked with choosing between two presidential candidates who have each framed the election as an vital fight for the nation’s character, democracy and security.
Harris to make final speech in Washington; Trump to speak from Florida
Rhianna Schmunk · CBC News
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One of the most divisive races for the White House in recent memory will come to an end on Tuesday as Americans head to the polls, tasked with choosing between two candidates who have each framed the election as fight for the nation’s character, democracy and security.
Unlike Canadians, Americans vote directly for who they want to see as president — their choices this year being Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Republican nominee Donald Trump or a third-party candidate.
- Follow live, interactive results here
- Find CBC News coverage of the election on TV, online and on the radio
- How CBC News calls the results of the U.S. presidential election
Poll opening times vary by state, and even by county, but generally will open first on the East Coast at 6 a.m. ET, while the last poll closes in Alaska at 8 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET).
Voters had returned more than 80.5 million advance ballots as of Monday.
Harris, 60, said she had intended to vote early to show voters the different options available. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, did the same, casting his ballot last week in his home state. President Joe Biden also voted early in his home state of Delaware.
Trump, 78, had previously said he would vote before election day, but is now expected to vote on Tuesday.
WATCH | Why the next U.S. president will be decided by just 7 states:
Why 0.008% of the U.S. population might determine the election | About That
Voters in seven swing states will determine the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. Andrew Chang breaks down each of the states in play for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and their pathways to 270 electoral college votes.
How the candidates are spending the day
Harris planned to spend Tuesday doing radio interviews in all seven battleground states to make sure those final voters “who are on their way to work, on their way home, taking a lunch break — understand the stakes,” according to campaign communications director Michael Tyler.
She is expected to make the final argument of her campaign in Washington at the same spot where Trump spoke to supporters before they attacked the U.S. Capitol to block the certification of Biden’s electoral victory on Jan. 6, 2021. Harris spoke at the same site last week.
In turn, Trump will make his final remarks at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. An adviser characterized the speech as a “prebuttal” to Harris’s address in the capital.
As usual, each candidate will need 270 electoral votes to win the White House.
In the past, the results have been obvious within a matter of hours on election night. If the presidential race is extremely close and mail-in ballots become a deciding factor, there will be no clear winner on Tuesday night.
The next U.S. president will be consequential for Canada, too: The countries are top allies, side-by-side on the world stage, and one another’s largest customers with billions of yearly dollars in trade.
At his own event on the eve of the election on Monday, Walz said voters’ choice will have implications far beyond the next presidential term.
“The thing is upon us now, folks,” Walz said at a rally in La Crosse, Wis. “I know there is a lot of anxiety, but the decisions that are made over the next 24-36 hours when those polls close, will shape not just the next four years, they will shape the coming generations.”
WATCH | How the U.S. electoral college works:
Want to understand the U.S. electoral college? It’s just like tennis | About That
The U.S. presidential election in November is the only election in the country that doesn’t use the popular vote to determine a winner; instead it uses the slightly confusing — and often controversial — electoral college. Andrew Chang explains how the numbers add up and why winning an election can be just like winning a tennis match.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rhianna Schmunk is a senior writer covering domestic and international affairs at CBC News. Her work over the past decade has taken her across North America, from the Canadian Rockies to Washington, D.C. She routinely covers the Canadian courts, with a focus on precedent-setting civil cases. You can send story tips to rhianna.schmunk@cbc.ca.
With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
