If she wins, Kamala Harris will become the first female President of the United States(Image: Getty Images)

When US election results are expected as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris neck and neck in polls

05 Nov 2024, 08:30 by Liam Doyle · Irish Mirror

America is now just hours away from selecting its next President. The race for the White House is currently too close to call, with polls showing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump locked in a dead heat.

The result will come down to a handful of "swing states" - but in each of those, the Democratic and Republican nominees are still polling within a nail-biting 2.5 points of each other.

Polling stations across the deeply divided nation open at different times in different states, with some able to cast their vote as early as 5am local time, while others will have to wait until late morning.

It is currently too close a race to call, and Trump has primed supporters for “a rigged election”. His latest explosive comments come amid fears America could once again descend into violence as Trump ramps up the claims ahead of his election battle against Kamala Harris.

Here's a full timeline of how the next few days (and months) will unfold...

Timeline of the US Election

November 5, 6pm to 10pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) (November 6, 12am to 3am GMT) Polls close

Polls will close between 6pm EST (11.30am GMT) on November 5 and 10pm EST (3am GMT) after opening at around 7am in most states on November 5.

November 5 - 8pm EST (1am GMT) Georgia results

The first US results are expected to come from Georgia this year, as state laws require all ballots to have been counted and reported by 8pm on election day.

November 5 - 11pm EST (4am GMT) North Carolina results

North Carolina should follow Georgia within a few hours, with results widely expected to arrive by 12am following a day's worth of counting.

November 6 - 12am EST (5am GMT) Remaining results

The last two states to close their polls are Hawaii and Alaska. The two states will wrap up for the evening at around midnight ET (5am GMT) and 1am ET 6am GMT) on November 6. Results for the remaining states should be declared some time after then.

There is no concrete timeline, and exit polls like those in the UK do not exist in the US, where these types of polls are used to divine voter attitudes and concerns. In some cases, it could take several days before the final results are known.

December 11 - Deadline for appointment of presidential electors

Officials will receive requests for recounts and complete any election-related bureaucracy between November 6 and December 11. Once this is complete, executives of each state must issue a certificate of ascertainment, a document which names and appoints individuals who will cast the state's electoral votes for president and vice president.

They will formally declare the victor in each state, and those formal votes will ultimately decide the next President when they meet and present them to Congress.

December 17, 2024 - Electors meet in-state

Electors will meet in their respective states on December 17. There, they will officially case their votes for president and vice president. While there, electors will sign multiple certificates attesting to the votes they have been given, sign and ultimately endorse them before they are sent to Washington DC and the halls of power in their state.

December 25 - Deadline for Electoral Votes

The fourth Wednesday in December, this year December 25, Christmas Day, will see officials descend on Washington DC where they will be met by the president of the Senate or the Archivist of the United States. If any certificates are not received, the president of the Senate or the Archivist will request the chief election officer of a state to send the certificate they retained.

January 3, 2025 - 119th Congress Convenes

New and returning Senators and State Representatives who make up the 119th Congress will appear in Congress for the first time in January 2025. Every new member - regardless of seniority - will be sworn in. Their first duty will be electing a house speaker, the Congressional leader, who is decided by a popular vote.

January 6, 2025 - Congress Counts Electoral Votes

As with 2020, Congress will meet in session in the House and Senate to acknowledge and count the electoral votes presented by state representatives. The Hall of the House of Representatives meets at 1pm to count and tally the votes before the result of the count is announced by the President of the Senate.

The count, provided there are no objections, should exactly mirror the results from the election on November 5. Representatives have no legal authority to reject the vote, and the President of the Senate has "no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolves disputers over the proper certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors".

January 20, 2025 - Inauguration Day

The President and their Vice President will take their respective oaths of office and be elected to their posts by 12am on January 20.

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