Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are rushing round the country to get out the vote ahead of November 5 (Image: Getty)
The US Presidential election is now just days away, as millions of Americans prepare to cast their ballots on November 5.
Polling has consistently pointed to a tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, and the Republican pick, former president Donald Trump.
The contest is expected to be decided by a handful of swing states as both candidates continue to campaign hard in crucial battlegrounds like Pennsylvania as the crunch vote approaches.
Harris, meanwhile, became the Democratic nominee in early August after the incumbent Joe Biden, 81, announced he wouldn’t be seeking a term after weeks of pressure, including from within his own party, to step down amid concerns about his mental fitness.
Trump is running alongside Ohio senator JD Vance, while Harris picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
Polling has consistently pointed to a tight race between Trump and Harris (Image: Getty)
How often are US Presidential Elections?
The US Presidential election takes place every four years on the first Tuesday in November.
This year election day falls on November 5, while the next election in 2028 will be held on Tuesday, November 7 and Tuesday, November 2 will be the date for 2032.
The rule is laid out in Act of 28th Congress which passed in 1845, establishing a uniform time for electing Commanders-in-Chief and VPs.
Unlike in Britain where elections campaigns last a matter of weeks, the election process involves first primary elections in which candidates for the two parties are selected, after which the actual presidential election process begins.
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How does the US electoral system work?
The US presidential election is decided by the number of so-called Electoral College votes, rather than the popular vote.
The candidate to hit the 270 electoral vote mark first – a majority of the 538 – wins the US election. Each state has a number of electoral votes, roughly in line with the size of its population.
California has the most with 54, while a handful of sparsely-populated states like Wyoming, Alaska and North Dakota, as well as Washington DC, have a minimum of three.
States award all their electoral college votes to whoever wins the poll of ordinary voters in the state. For example, if a candidate wins 50.1% of the vote in Texas, they are given all of the state’s 40 electoral votes.
A candidate who won a state by a landslide would still pick up the same number of electoral votes.
Why is the US election process so different from the UK?
Donald Trump is seeking a return to the White House after losing the 2020 bid for a second term. (Image: Getty)
There are major differences in the systems of government between the US and the UK.
Central to this is the fact that the US has a presidential system, where the elected leader is also the head of state, while the UK is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional sovereign.
In parliamentary systems, Prime Ministers establish the national agenda, appoint cabinet officials, and govern the country, but only at the behest of their party or a coalition, as per Brittanica.
Despite their power in office, British Prime Ministers can be swiftly toppled if their party turns against them and threatens or launches votes of no confidence.
Some parliamentary systems, like Ireland, do have presidents and though they’re heads of state they play a largely ceremonial role like the British monarch.
The role of the President in the US originated in the British colonial administrative structures in North America and has far greater executive powers, enhanced by national crises over the years, according to the website.
However, a lot of power remains in Congress, and there are a number of things the President can’t do, including making and interpreting laws, deciding how federal money should be spent, and declaring war.
Presidents also cannot choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without approval from the Senate, though they may have strong representation from their parties in the upper chamber which makes this easier.
In the US, the President is also not the party leader, and impeaching them and removing them from office is a tall order.
The Constitution stipulates a supermajority threshold of 67 votes in the Senate to impeach, which has proved to be a high bar, as per The Atlantic.
Can you win the most votes across the country but lose the election?
Hilary Clinton lost the 2016 despite winning almost three million more votes. (Image: Getty)
It’s possible for a candidate to become president by winning a number of tight races, despite having fewer votes across the country as a whole.
This was the case in 2016 when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost out as Donald Trump won 304 electoral votes compared to her 227 in a major upset.
Clinton, a former Secretary of State and wife of ex-President Bill Clinton got almost 2.9 million votes than her Republican opponent, winning 48.2% of the popular vote to 46.1%, according to certified final results.
In 2000, George W Bush defeated Al Gore even though the Democratic candidate won the popular vote by more than half a million.
US Presidential candidates have won the presidency despite losing the popular vote on five occasions in total.
Why are swing states so important?
Kamala Harris became the Dems’ nominee after Biden announced he wouldn’t be seeking a second term. (Image: Getty)
In recent weeks a series of polls have put Harris and Trump within a couple of points of each other, with analysts expecting the race to go down to the wire.
Because of this, a relatively small amount swing of votes – which can hand a larger state with significantly more electoral college votes to one candidate – could well play a pivotal role in the result.
These key “battleground states” have become the focus of Presidential campaigns, with parties confident of hanging on to large and largely safe red and blue states such as Texas and California, respectively, and seeking out the election-deciding votes in more marginal areas of the country.
Seven of them – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – hold the keys to the White House.
Arizona is worth 11 electoral votes, Georgia (16), Michigan (15), Nevada (six), North Carolina (16), Pennsylvania (19) and Wisconsin (10) – together accounting for 93 of the total available.
The weighting of these votes means that a marginal win in a swing state can have a disproportionate impact on the result – making them crucial to securing the presidency.
How do Americans vote in US elections?
Early voting has begun in some states, including the swing state of Wisconsin. (Image: Getty)
Around half of registered voters will have already cast their ballot by election day, according to figures from a survey conducted by NBC News.
Some will have cast their vote by post, though in some states, there is also the option of early in-person voting.
For people voting in person on November 5th, polling will open early in the morning across the country before closing early evening.
Voters will be picking their preferred candidate for the Presidency as well as Congressional candidates for seats in the Senate and House of Representatives.
READ MORE: Who is Kamala Harris? Inside the US President hopeful’s personal life
What happens on election night and when are the results announced?
Counts will begin across the country after polls close which is generally from around 7pm local time, though it varies by state.
In previous years, winners have been declared on election night, though the 2020 contest, which saw Biden denying Trump a second term, took days for all the votes to be counted.
It can then take months for the results to be formally finalised. But the calculus of America’s electoral college system means states and the election itself can usually be “called” long before the official totals are in.
Over the past two election cycles, Democrat voters have tended to cast their ballot by mail more than Republicans meaning the first results reported often look stronger for the Dems than the final result, in an effect known among political experts as the “blue mirage”.
When does the new president take office?
After the November 5 vote, the winner will only begin a four-year term in the White House from their inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Inauguration Day takes place on January 20 or January 21 if January 20 falls on a Sunday. The ceremony is held at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC with the next one scheduled for January 20, 2025.
First, the vice-president-elect is sworn in and repeats the oath of office senators, representatives, and other federal employees swear to.
The affirmation reads: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
The president-elect then recites the oath stipulated in Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution at around noon, saying: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
How does the US election affect the UK and the rest of the world?
Trump’s campaign has taken aim at Labour just weeks away from election day. (Image: Getty)
Figures in Britain’s Labour government are open about the fact that the Democrats are their sister party in the US, as their values allign more closely than with the GOP.
But the isolationist fervour that Trump has instilled within the party – with doubt cast upon Washington’s ungoing support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion – may make maintaining Britain and America’s “special relationship” more difficult than ever.
Donald Trump has already signalled a rocky relationship could lie ahead if he wins power, accusing Labour of “interfering” in the election because party activists travelled to the states to help campaign for Harris’s ahead of the ballot next month.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “The Labour Party has volunteers. [They] have gone over pretty much every election. They’re doing it in their spare time. They’re doing it as volunteers.
“They’re staying I think with other volunteers over there. That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straight forward.”
The Prime Minister has also insisted his relationship with Trump is not at risk if he wins the presidential race on November 5.
But while Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from Nato and alarmed international allies with his reverential language towards Vladimir Putin, Harris has reaffirmed America’s commitment to the military alliance, and says she would stand with Kyiv and European allies as president.
However, critics have accused the VP of failing to define her foreign policy and domestic economic vision.
