US election results: When can we expect the final outcome?

The United States is just days away from its presidential election, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump focusing their campaigns on crucial swing states, where every vote matters.

As Election Day approaches, we take a closer look at what to expect on the day itself and how the results may unfold.

When is the US election?

The election will be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

In most states, polling stations will open between 7am and 9am local time. Given the span of multiple time zones in the US, that would be between 11:00 GMT and 16:00 GMT.

At what time does the polling end?

Poll closing times differ from state to state and sometimes county to county.

When does the US vote counting begin, and when can we expect the results?

Just hours after the first polls close at 6pm Eastern Time (22:00 GMT), results are expected to start coming in. However, some states will tally votes more quickly than others. As polls close several hours later in states to the west, their first results will only start coming later – when some eastern states might already have been called for Harris or Trump.

In a tight race between them, counting could continue well past election night, and we might not know the winner for several days.

“It’s really close,” says Raymond J. La Raja, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

According to FiveThirtyEight’s National Polls tracker, Harris maintains a narrow national lead of about 1.2 points as of Friday.

However, La Raja explained that the polls might not accurately capture some voter groups, which could lead to surprising results for either candidate. If the polls are wrong and the race is not as tight as expected “then we will know pretty quickly,” he added.

“But my guess is we will not know in the first few days.