Polls have opened for the 2024 United States election a national vote that will decide not only the next president of the country but also the makeup of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Tuesday caps a mad-dash stretch of campaigning that saw Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican challenger Donald Trump crisscrossing the country in hopes of shoring up voters.
For weeks, polls have shown a remarkably tight race, with no candidate having the edge going into Election Day.
Whatever the outcome of the vote, the result will define US politics and policy for the next four years. It will also be historic as voters will either elect the first female president in Harris or the first convicted felon in Trump.
vergent positions on key issues like the economy, immigration, women’s rights and democracy.
Harris has pledged to “turn the page” on what she calls Trump’s divisive rhetoric. She has also positioned herself as a “new generation” leader who will boost the middle class, protect women’s rights and maintain the integrity of US institutions at home and abroad.
Nevertheless, she has faced regular protests over her support for Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Trump, meanwhile, has promised a return to a US “golden age”. To do that, he has sketched a plan to lift economic regulations, project US strength abroad and crack down on migrants – a line of attack that regularly dips into racist tropes.
But while the candidates’ platforms have starkly contrasted in both substance and tone, they overlap on one lofty theme: that the outcome of this year’s vote is pivotal.
Trump has dubbed the 2024 race “the most important” one the country has ever seen, while Harris says it is the “most consequential” of voters’ lifetimes.
Both candidates spent the final 24 hours ahead of Election Day busily campaigning in key states.
“With your vote tomorrow, we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America – indeed, the world – to new heights of glory,” said Trump as he delivered his closing pitch at the final rally of his campaign in the early hours of the morning in Grand Rapids, in the swing state of Michigan.
Harris said “the momentum is on our side” as she signed off in Philadelphia.
“We must finish strong,” the Democrat candidate declared. “Make no mistake, we will win.
Election Day is the culmination of weeks of early voting in some locations. Several states began early voting – whether by mail or in person – as far back as September.
Nearly 81 million voters already cast their ballot before Election Day, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
That is more than half of the 158.4 million (PDF) total votes cast in the 2020 presidential election – and a sign of record turnout this year for early voting in some parts of the country.
Election Day will ultimately reveal not just which candidate comes out on top, but the full extent of the changing demographics of the US electorate.
The first voting site technically opened right after Monday midnight Eastern time (05:00 GMT, Tuesday) in the tiny New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch. The next slate opened at 5am ET (10:00 GMT) in Vermont
