U.S. election results: Trump leads early with trio of red state wins, Harris retains Vermont
THE LATEST:
- CBC News calls Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia for Donald Trump; Vermont for Kamala Harris.
- Current electoral vote tally is 23 for Trump and three for Harris.
- Presidential candidates need 270 electoral votes to win.
- Polls are closed in six states, including battleground Georgia.
- Polls will shut in 17 more states at 8 p.m. ET, including the biggest of swing state prizes: Pennsylvania.
One of the most divisive races for the White House in recent memory is coming to an end as Americans head to the final hours of voting, tasked with choosing between two candidates who have each framed the election as a fight for the nation’s character, democracy and security.
Polls closed in Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and the swing state of Georgia at 7 p.m. ET. The remainder of poll closing times vary by state, but the last one shuts in Alaska at 8 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET).
Each candidate needs 270 electoral votes to become the next president. CBC News has called the reliably blue state of Vermont for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, while Republican nominee Donald Trump will take Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky as expected.
In the past, the results have been obvious within a matter of hours on election night. If the presidential race is extremely close and mail-in ballots become a deciding factor, there will be no clear winner on Tuesday.
Unlike Canadians, Americans vote directly for who they want to see as president — though it is the electoral college which ultimately elects the winner. Their choices this year were Harris, Trump or a third-party candidate.
More than 80 million Americans voted early.
Harris, 60, said she had intended to vote early to show voters the different options available. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, did the same, casting his ballot last week in his home state. President Joe Biden also voted early in his home state of Delaware.
Trump, 78, had previously said he would vote before election day but instead cast his ballot in Florida on Tuesday.
Voting has largely gone smoothly, but the FBI said hoax bomb threats on Tuesday, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains, were directed at polling locations in three U.S. battleground states: Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The bureau said the threats were not credible but at least two polling sites in Georgia were briefly evacuated.
How the candidates are spending the night
Harris is planning to spend election night at a party at her alma mater, Howard University, a historically Black school in Washington, D.C.
“The first office I ever ran for was freshman class representative at Howard University,” Harris recalled in an interview on Tuesday with the Big Tigger Morning Show on V-103 in Atlanta. “And to go back tonight to Howard University, my beloved alma mater, and be able to hopefully recognize this day for what it is — really it’s full circle for me.”
Trump said he will watch the election results with “a very special group of people” at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., and a few thousand people at a nearby convention centre.
Speaking to reporters after voting in Palm Beach, Trump said he had no plans to tell his supporters to refrain from violence should he lose.
“I don’t have to tell them” because they “are not violent people,” he said.
Trump also planned to visit a nearby campaign office to thank those working on his behalf.
The next U.S. president will be consequential for Canada, too: The countries are top allies, side by side on the world stage and one another’s largest customers with billions of dollars annually in trade.
At his own event on the eve of the election on Monday, Walz said voters’ choice will have implications far beyond the next presidential term.
“The thing is upon us now, folks,” Walz said at a rally in La Crosse, Wis. “I know there is a lot of anxiety, but the decisions that are made over the next 24 to 36 hours when those polls close will shape not just the next four years — they will shape the coming generations.”
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