People fill out their ballots in voting booths at the Green Street Community Centre in Concord, New Hampshire, on November 5, 2024. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)
In a fiercely contested US presidential election, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump faced off on Tuesday as voters headed to the polls across the country.
Both candidates are vying for the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim victory. Early on Wednesday, results from key swing states remain inconclusive, leaving the outcome too close to call in a number of battleground states crucial to each candidate’s path to the White House.
Harris has secured several Democratic strongholds in the Northeast, including states such as Maine, Massachusetts, and New York, while Trump has made significant gains in Republican-leaning areas, capturing much of the South and Midwest, including states like Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Indiana.
The race is expected to hinge on seven swing states — Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada.
High early voter turnout, both in-person and by mail, has added to the unpredictability, with over 83 million Americans casting ballots ahead of election day, according to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
Experts caution that early vote counts may offer a misleading picture; in 2020, Trump initially led in key states on election night, only to be overtaken by Biden as mail-in votes were tallied in the following days.
Polling stations closed at staggered times, with most concluding on Tuesday evening.
But results in states like Pennsylvania and Arizona may not be finalised until later on Wednesday or even later in the week, as officials process mail ballots that continue to arrive.
Nevada, in particular, has provisions to count mail-in votes postmarked by election day until November 9, potentially prolonging the suspense.
The tight race has also stirred excitement in the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin surging to over $75,000 as early returns appeared favourable for Trump on Tuesday night.
Crypto investors are closely watching the outcome, as Trump has promised to ease regulatory pressures on the industry, contrasting sharply with the Biden administration’s restrictive stance.
Some investors speculate that a Trump win could push Bitcoin even higher, surpassing $80,000.
As Americans and global observers await definitive results, both campaigns are bracing for the possibility of extended counting and the potential for either candidate to question the legitimacy of late-arriving mail ballots—a scenario that could heighten post-election tensions.