• The 2024 US presidential election sees Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in a close race.
• The election, determined by electoral college votes, could result in delayed results due to the complexity of the process.
• The election is projected to be the most expensive in history, with record voter turnout expected.
• Both candidates have the potential to make history, with Harris possibly being the first woman and Trump potentially being the second former President to win a third term.

The United States is on the brink of a significant event, the 2024 presidential election. The nation and the world are eagerly awaiting the results, with Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump vying for the top spot. Both candidates have been relentlessly campaigning, particularly focusing on the seven battleground states that could potentially tip the scales in their favor.

The election results could be known as early as Wednesday morning, just hours after the polling ends on Tuesday. However, the process could also extend to days, weeks, or even a month, reminiscent of the 2000 election when the country waited for over a month to find its next President, George W Bush. This uncertainty is a testament to the complexity and thoroughness of the US electoral process.

The US presidential election is not determined by the national vote total but by the electoral college votes won. To secure victory, Harris and Trump must win at least 270 of the 538 electoral college votes. Each state is assigned several electoral college votes, which is the aggregate of the number of members it sends to the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

The Race to the White House: A Close Call

The 2024 U.S. federal election is projected to be the most expensive in history, with total spending expected to reach at least $15.9 billion. This election is also expected to see record voter turnout, with around 176,000 polling stations nationwide ensuring access. Early voting numbers already show high with 53.9 % support participation, reflecting the intense interest and divided opinions across the nation.

The Vice-President leads the former President by 0.9 percentage points in the weighted average of national polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight, at 47.9 per cent and 47 per cent. The 2020 national surveys for the presidential contest between Trump and Joe Biden, for instance, have been called the least accurate in 40 years, according to a comprehensive survey by the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

The Harris campaign's fund-raising is close to the billion-dollar mark, according to the Federal Election Commission, which monitors election finance in the US. Her collections stand at $997,950,787.25, which is nearly three times Trump's $391,949,664.42.

The Final Hours and the Potential Spoilers

In the final hours before the election, both candidates made stops in Pennsylvania, one of the closely watched states, holding a series of rallies including nearby each another in the Pittsburgh area as they projected confidence in their own campaigns.

Trump, addressing his supporters at a sports arena, said another Trump administration would "launch the most extraordinary economic boom the world has ever seen." He also warned that, if elected, he would punish Mexico and China with tariffs unless both governments moved to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

The White House race is essentially between these two, but there are others, who have no chance whatsoever of winning but who can spoil it for the two main nominees in the contest that has been called closed in recent decades. They both stand to make history if they win.

Harris will become the first woman elected President, the first African-American woman, the first Asian-American woman, and the first Indian-American elected to the top office. If Trump wins, he will become only the second former President to lose his re-election bid and then win on this third again, Grover Cleveland was the first.