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The votes are all in. Millions of Americans formed long lines to cast their ballots while thousands of US expats from around the world, including the UAE, made their voices heard through mailed and online votes.
Now the wait begins. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump notched up early wins on Election Night, November 5, as the first key polls closed in one of the tightest and most volatile elections in US history.
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The outcome — which could be known overnight but may take days — will have momentous consequences, either making Harris the first woman in the world's most powerful job or handing a historic comeback to Trump and his right-wing "America First" agenda.
Here's a snapshot of election results from Reuters, based on a running tally by Edison Research:
10.20am: 'I'm worried but I got hope'
At Howard University, where a large watch party was being held for Harris, supporters were leaving in droves, anticipating the vice-president would not address the crowd late on Tuesday night.
"Obviously we're not going to get much tonight. It's very close, so we're just headed home," said Korey Stroud, 21, a student at a local community college. "Not going to stress here, we're going to stress at home."
Joshuana Hayden, 20, a fellow student, said she would be back on Wednesday.
"I was here to see Kamala," she said. "I'm a little bit worried but I got hope.
10.10am: Trump could get another swing state
In Nevada, another battleground, 70.1 per cent of estimate votes have been tallied — and here are the projections:
This is based on the early vote count of Edison Research.
Recap: Trump has so far won two swing states — Georgia and North Carolina, and he is currently leading in Pennsylvania, too.
10am: Republicans win the Senate
The Republican Party has wrested control of the US Senate from the Democrats, with at least 51 seats in the 100-member upper house of Congress, US networks projected early Wednesday.
Read more here.
9.55am: Trump, 246; Harris, 187
9.42am: Trump wins second swing state
Another battleground Georgia goes red, giving the win to Trump and dealing a major blow to his rival Harris, according to US media.
The state voted Democratic in 2020.
9.40am: UAE tunes in
The UAE may be thousands of mile away from the US but Netizens across the Emirates care about the presidential elections, too — based on trending topics from social media platform X.
As on 9.40am, Trump is the No. 1 topic in the UAE, with more than 4.6 million posts. On the No. 3 spot was Trump in Arabic, which was trending with the Arabic Harris hashtag. #ElectionDay was also on the charts.
9.32am: When will we know the official results?
Rather than waiting for winners to be declared by local authorities, US news outlets call races based on what they see in the voting. So, the numbers that you're seeing right now are not yet official — results still have to be certified at the state level, with every ballot accounted for.
The deadline for states to certify their results is December 11, and each state's appointed electors then cast their votes for the candidate who won in their popular vote.
By December 25, electoral certificates of each state must be received by the president of the Senate, who is also the vice-president — Harris.
On January 6, Congress counts and confirms the results, before the new president is inaugurated on January 20.
Read more about this here.
9.21am: Trump, 230; Harris, 182
9.17am: Pennsylvania update
Trump is still leading in the swing state of Pennsylvania, with 86 per cent of estimated votes tallied. So far:
This is based on the early vote count of Edison Research.
Projections have shown Trump won North Carolina and was leading in another battleground state Georgia.
9am: Who's counting the votes — and why do tallies vary?
The numbers that you're seeing right now are unofficial tallies, but they are projections generated through various sources of information.
First, you have to know that there is no single US election commission that can tell the world who's winning. Each state has different rules.
So, news organisations in the US have taken on the responsibility of giving the public a real-time overview of election results — since 1848. With teams on the ground across the US, they tally data that comes from various sources — from raw vote counts, exit polls (asking people at precincts who they voted for), and the estimated number of ballots yet to be counted. Information is being gathered from state websites, too.
US-based Edison Research is also carrying out exit polls on behalf of a number of major media companies.
8.53am: Votes for the first time — for his dad
Former first lady Melania Trump shared a photo of their youngest son,18-year-old Barron, voting for the first time for his dad:
8.46am: North Carolina goes to Trump
The first of the seven key battlegrounds — North Carolina — went to Trump, confirming his growing momentum.
Democratic vice-president Harris appeared to be underperforming in other key areas compared to the Republican former president.
Harris's camp said the race was now "razor-thin" and that her "clearest path" to victory was through the so-called Blue Wall swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Read the full report here.
8.43am: Trump, 230; Harris, 165
8.34am: Another swing state is leaning towards Trump
With 91.1 per cent of votes tallied in the battleground state of Georgia:
This is based on the early vote count of US-based Edison Research.
8.29am: Trump, 211; Harris, 165
8.25am: Let's look at the Congress
For the first time in history, two Black women will serve at the same time in the Senate, following victories from Democrats Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Maryland and Delaware, respectively.
Of the 2,000-plus Americans who have served in the Senate, only three have been Black women — including Harris.
As with polling in the White House contest, the congressional election looks close. Even with Republicans pressing their advantage in the upper chamber, control of the House was expected to be a toss-up.
Jim Justice's victory in West Virginia wiped out the Democrats' 51-49 Senate advantage, leaving Republicans needing just one more gain to take it back, and setting their sights on Montana, Ohio and possibly Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Democrats were looking to mitigate losses with gains in Texas and Florida, but conceded both as the sitting Republicans notched easy wins.
If Republicans win all of the toss-up races, they'll have 55 of the 100 seats, giving them huge power to block Harris's domestic policy should she prevail over Trump, and many of her appointments.
8.21am: Trump in Idaho, Iowa
Trump was projected to win in Idaho and Iowa, US networks said.
The key battleground states, including Georgia and Pennsylvania, have yet to be called.
8.18am: California chooses Harris
Harris has won her home state of California, Edison Research projects, gaining its 54 electoral votes — the most of any state.
California has voted overwhelmingly Democratic in presidential elections since the 1990s. Joe Biden defeated Trump in the state by 30 percentage points in 2020.
Harris also won in the West Coast state of Oregon.
8.15am: Closing time for last few states
California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii started closing their polling stations at 11pm, US time (8pm, UAE time) — with some closing even later.
8.08am: Trump, 211; Harris, 153
7.55am: Swing state Pennsylvania is going for ...
With 60.3 per cent of estimated votes tallied in Pennsylvania:
This is based on an early vote count by Edison Research.
7.51am: Trump, 207; Harris, 91
7.41am: So, what are swing states again — and why are they important?
Most US states are predictable, either comfortably Republican or Democratic. They are either red or blue, based on election history.
But seven states are considered 'battleground' because they have a history of alternating between Republican and Democratic candidates. And that's why all eyes are on these states:
Still confused about US elections? Check out an explainer below.
7.30am: Remember, one can win even with fewer votes
The US elections are NOT like any other voting exercise where you just count the ballots and the candidate with the highest number of votes win. America has a different system.
It follows an electoral college system for the presidential and vice-presidential race. "Electors" are selected for each state and these "electors" cast their votes for the top two positions.
A presidential candidate must obtain an absolute majority of the "electors" — or 270 of the 538 — to win.
Each vote that Americans cast goes to a statewide tally, according to an explainer on the US government's website. "In 48 states and Washington, DC, the winner gets all the electoral votes for that state. Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system."
Read more about the system here.
7.20am: Polls all closed in seven swing states
Voting is done in all seven battleground states that could decide the outcome of this election. Nevada was the last to close at 10pm, US time (7am in UAE). Results for these states, however, are still pending.
Here are the seven swing states, which the world is watching very closely:
Know more about the swing states here.
7.10am: 'Stay in line' in red and blue
Both presidential candidates reminded American voters to "stay in line" in the final hours of polls.
Here's how Trump said it — in all caps:
And this is Harris:
7am: New York all lit up!
The Big Apple remains true to its character as the city that never sleeps. Staying up for election night, its skyline dazzled in US colours.
Time check: 10pm of November 5 in the US.
6.50am: Dollar climbs
US stock futures and the dollar climbed in Asia on Wednesday as early election results suggested the race remained too close to call, leaving investors jumping at shadows.
Treasury yields climbed as some betting sites swung to favor Trump, while futures markets were still confident the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday.
Analysts generally assume Trump's plans for restricted immigration, tax cuts and sweeping tariffs if enacted would put more upward pressure on inflation and bond yields, than Harris' center-left policies.
Trump's proposals would also tend to push up the dollar while potentially restricting how far the Fed might ultimately be able to cut rates.
6.40am: America waits
Across the US, Americans huddled and came together in watch parties as results of the presidential race unfold.
6.33am: Trump, 168; Harris, 81
Results are tumbling in, with US media projecting wins for Trump so far in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Harris has so far captured Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and the US capital Washington, DC.
So far, that gives Harris 81 electoral votes and Trump 168.
The magic number to win the presidency is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.
6.20am: Bomb threats, 'talks about massive cheating'
Expected challenges emerged as polls drew to a close.
In a stark reminder of the tension — and fears of outright violence — around the election, officials said 32 bomb threats were called into polling locations around Georgia.
In five stations, the threat required temporarily suspending voting while police checked for explosives, Fulton County police chief said.
The FBI and local authorities said the threats appeared to originate in Russia, which is accused by Washington of trying to meddle in the election.
6.15am: No surprise in initial results
There were no surprises in the initial results. Republican former president Trump won strongholds Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, and Democratic vice-president Harris took more liberal Vermont.
As the first results came in, Trump said "we're going to have a big victory tonight".
The Harris campaign reported strong turnout in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia.
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