US Presidential Election 2024 Result Updates: Harris or Trump? Voters Line Up at Polling Stations to Make Their Choice

All eyes are on the American voters who have come out and formed lines in front of the polling stations on Tuesday to exercise their franchise in the country's most keenly contested presidential election in recent decades. The local voters formed a long queue at a polling station at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, to decide who is going to be their next president. Speculation is rife whether the US voters will choose Vice President Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump.

Voting rights in Washington underwent steady changes over the decades. The voters here brought an amendment to the state constitution allowing women to cast their votes and also run for office. Also, the Washington voters got a poll tax eliminated by bringing in some electoral reforms in 1923. In those days, the election taxes were used to discriminate against certain sections of voters.

Here is a look at how the federal voting rights evolved in the American elections over centuries. In 1776, only white male landowners could vote. In 1870, a constitutional amendment ended voting barriers. In 1924, native Americans were granted citizenship and voting rights. In 1971, a constitutional amendment reduced the voting age to 18 from 21.

Washington: The US federal and election security agencies jointly issued a statement that Russian actors posted an article recently claiming that US officials were orchestrating a plan to commit electoral fraud in the swing states. The agencies sought to highlight alleged attempts by foreign actors to sow doubts over the voting process in the US elections. Meanwhile, the US intelligence officials accused influence actors linked to Russian agencies of making attempts 'to undermine the legitimacy of the election'.

Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice president, stands to be the first female president if elected. She has promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic worries and other issues without radically departing from the course set by President Joe Biden. Donald Trump, the Republican former president, has vowed to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on allies and foes alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Read More...

The polls put the US election on a knife-edge, but as Americans go to vote, Thailand's superstar baby hippo Moo Deng has predicted former president Donald Trump will regain the White House. The chubby chomper took the internet by storm with her adorable antics at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, quickly becoming a staple of social media memes and inspiring a raft of merchandise.

Now Moo Deng, whose name means "bouncy pork", has predicted a comeback victory for the Republican over Democrat Kamala Harris. Offered two dishes of carved fruit, each emblazoned with one of the candidates' names, the four-month-old pigmy hippo chose Trump, in video posted online by the zoo. Moo Deng has proved a particular hit in the United States, where comedian Bowen Yang portrayed her in a "Saturday Night Live" comedy sketch.

She also beat both Trump and Harris in an unofficial presidential poll run by "The Tonight Show", taking 93 percent of the vote. While the soothsaying skills of hippos are largely untested, other animals have achieved global fame predicting the outcome of world events, most notably the legendary Paul the Octopus. The clairvoyant cephalopod shot to global stardom by correctly predicting eight matches in the 2010 World Cup from his aquarium in Germany. (AFP)

Voters in the US hamlet of Dixville Notch launched Election Day in the first minutes of Tuesday with a tied vote, mirroring the incredibly close national polls in the White House race.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each got three ballots in the tiny community in the northeastern state of New Hampshire which for decades has kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight Monday -- hours before the rest of the country's polling stations open. The Democratic vice president and Republican ex-president have been battling in a tense and exceptionally close race, with opinion polls largely tied.

To a gathered crowd of journalists, the vote opened with a rendition of the US national anthem performed on an accordion. Electoral laws in New Hampshire allow municipalities with fewer than 100 residents to open their polling stations at midnight and to close them when all registered voters have fulfilled their civic duty. Dixville Notch's residents voted unanimously for then candidate Joe Biden in 2020, reportedly only the second presidential hopeful to get all the votes since the midnight voting tradition began in 1960.

International tourists from the US Devony Evans, Sajron Silalenka, and Fiana Jones of United Kingdom joined local villagers during special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother's family has ancestral ties.

Panic buttons for poll workers, special weapons teams deployed on rooftops, and hundreds of National Guard personnel on standby. The 2024 US presidential campaign has been a particularly volatile one, and security for Election Day on Tuesday is being ramped up to unprecedented levels given concerns over possible civil unrest, election chicanery, or violence against election workers.

The states of Oregon, Washington and Nevada have activated the National Guard -- and the Pentagon says at least 17 states have placed a total of 600 National Guard troops on standby if needed. The FBI has set up a national election command post in Washington to monitor threats 24 hours a day through election week, and security has been bolstered at many of the nearly 100,000 US polling stations. (AFP)

Six voters of Dixville Notch in New Hamshire cast their ballots at midnight, marking the first votes in the US election, news agency AFP reported. The tiny town in the middle of the forest, near the Canadian border, has traditionally voted "first in the nation" since 1960.

The US Electoral College is a process in which electors or representatives from each state in numbers proportional to the state’s population cast their vote and determine who will be president. As Americans cast their vote, they vote for a group of people called electors. Except in the states of Maine and Nebraska, if a candidate receives the majority of the votes from the people of a state then the candidate will receive all electoral votes of that state. The presidential nominee with the most electoral votes becomes the President of the United States. Popular vote is the vote for a US presidential candidate made by qualified voters, as opposed to that made by the Electoral College

Each state gets a certain number of electors based on its representation in Congress. There are a total of 538 electors selected according to each state’s policy. Each elector casts one vote following the general election, and the candidate who gets more than half (270) wins. The newly elected President and Vice President are inaugurated in January.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar expressed confidence on Tuesday that India-US relations would continue to grow steadily, regardless of the outcome of the US Presidential elections.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong at Parliament House in Canberra, EAM Jaishankar also credited former US President Donald Trump with reviving the QUAD alliance in 2017, marking a significant development in Indo-Pacific cooperation.

"We have seen steady progress in our relationship with the US over the last five presidencies, including a previous Trump presidency," IANS reported Jaishankar saying in response to a question on how India-US ties may evolve after the elections. "So, when we look at the American election, we are confident that, regardless of the outcome, our relationship with the US will continue to grow," he added.

The Howard University on Tuesday looked forward to hosting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris for her election night watch party. This marks the first time in modern history that a presidential election night event will be hosted on a college campus. Harris graduated from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in 1986.

Nigel Jhonson, a law student at Howard University, is upbeat about the event. “It is a momentous occasion. You always love to see your alumni, and your classmates doing big things. It is an honour to have the world here and the world to know the type of people the university produces. We produce leaders and the world ought to know that Howard University is synonymous with leadership," Jhonson told PTI.

Jade, a freshman at Howard who thinks Harris' election will help the college get prominence, said: “It feels great to have the spotlight on us and having alumni like the Vice President of US. I feel like it shows the university produces good students. This is history being created right here." Ben, who lives in the neighbourhood, said they were stoked about the fact that Harris could be the next US President. “It is very cool that we may have the first female president from the university." The campus has been transformed as it prepares to host Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

For years in deep-blue Maryland, U.S. Senate races often have been blowouts for solid Democratic incumbents against little-known Republicans, without much chance of an upset or control of the chamber potentially at stake. that's not the case with the race this year for an open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland.

Larry Hogan, a popular Republican who won two terms as governor, is the most competitive candidate for the GOP in years in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin. Still, he is facing an uphill battle against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince George's County, who could make history as the state's first Black U.S. senator in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1.

The stakes are unusually high for a Maryland race that includes a Republican who won significant Democratic support in his 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial victories. Hogan is only the second Republican in Maryland history to be reelected governor.

Democrats currently hold a 51-49 Senate advantage, including independent senators who caucus with Democrats. And Democrats have to defend 23 seats out of the 33 Senate seats on the ballot around the country this November. (AP)

It’s been more than three decades since Nevada voters overwhelmingly approved a law allowing abortions until 24 weeks of pregnancy. Now they must decide if they want to make it a constitutional right. Nevada is one of nine states where abortion rights are on the ballot, as supporters in the state and elsewhere try to strengthen abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that made abortion legal nationwide for 50 years. It’s a key issue that could drive voters to the polls in Nevada, a crucial presidential battleground, even if abortion access has been protected by state law since 1990. (AP)

Three-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana faces perhaps his toughest reelection challenge yet on Tuesday, with control of the Senate on the line in a state that’s veered sharply rightward since the 68-year-old grain farmer's first election.

Republicans have pinned their hopes on Tim Sheehy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and founder of an aerial firefighting company. Sheehy, 38, had early backing from party leaders including former President Donald Trump, clearing the political newcomer's path to win the June primary. This is the first time Tester’s name appears on the same ballot as Trump, who won Montana by wide margins in 2016 and 2020. (AP)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez is seeking a second term in New Mexico’s swing district along the U.S.-Mexico border, in a rematch against the Republican he ousted in 2022. GOP challenger Yvette Herrell waged her fourth consecutive campaign for Congress in the majority-Latino district that stretches from the border to Albuquerque.

In 2021, democratic state lawmakers redrew congressional boundaries to divvy up a politically conservative, oil-producing region among three districts. Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, has invoked his knowledge of the border region and its economy as the U.S.-born son of immigrants from Mexico. His campaign has proposed safeguards against cartels that smuggle drugs or migrants, and a humanitarian approach to asylum-seekers and support for abortion rights.

Herrell, a real estate agent and former state legislator, campaigned this year alongside Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in favor of hard-line immigration enforcement policies. She has denounced oversight of the border under President Biden while advocating for a return to efforts by former President Donald Trump to expand the border wall and to enforce requirements that asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. (AP)

Republicans represent all of Iowa's four congressional districts, but Democrats are hopeful of their chances in Tuesday's general election. Two of the districts are seen as especially competitive, including the 1st district in southeast Iowa and the 3rd district in central and southern Iowa. Republicans are expected to more easily retain control in the 2nd district in northeast Iowa and in the largely rural 4th district in western Iowa. (AP)

Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe is facing Missouri state Rep. Crystal Quade on Tuesday for the governorship. Kehoe is strongly favored to win in the heavily Republican state, where Quade is the House minority leader. Quade and other Missouri Democrats are hoping to wedge their way back into political relevance with help from abortion rights supporters, who could be more energized to vote with an abortion rights amendment on the ballot this year. Quade supports the amendment, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and if approved would be expected to undo the state's near-total abortion ban. (AP)

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s differences have long been clear. But on Monday night in Pittsburgh, their duelling rallies drove home just how large the gulf between them truly is.

Only 9 miles (14 kilometres) separated the two in the key Pennsylvania city. Trump spoke at PPG Paints Arena, home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, in one of his standard arena rally setups. Harris spoke at Carrie Furnaces, a historic steel facility with an event that nodded to Pittsburgh’s place as the heart of the country’s steel industry. Harris spoke for 10 minutes. Trump spoke for 950% more, clocking in an hour and 45 minutes.

Harris was introduced by comedian Cedric the Entertainer and seen off by a performance from artist Katy Perry. Trump brought conservative commentator Megyn Kelly on stage and touted the support of Roberto Clemente Jr., the son of the famed Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder. Harris is closing her campaign by barely mentioning Trump directly. “This is it,” Harris said at her event. “Tomorrow is Election Day, and the momentum is on our side.” Trump repeatedly invoked Harris — and her nearby rally.

“If you vote for Kamala, you will have four more years of misery, failure, and disaster, and our country may never recover,” Trump told his audience, earning boos. Later, he added, “Kamala has a little rally going on. And when I say little, I mean little.” (AP)

Election Day 2024 arrived Tuesday with tens of millions of Americans having already cast their ballots. Those include record numbers in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states that could decide the winner.

The early turnout in Georgia, which has flipped between the Republican and Democratic nominees in the previous two presidential elections, has been so robust — over 4 million voters — that a top official in the secretary of state’s office said the big day could look like a “ghost town” at the polls.

As of Monday, Associated Press tracking of advance voting nationwide showed roughly 82 million ballots already cast — slightly more than half the total number of votes in the presidential election four years earlier. That’s driven partly by Republican voters, who were casting early ballots at a higher rate than in recent previous elections after a campaign by former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee to counter the Democrats’ longstanding advantage in the early vote.

That included in the parts of western North Carolina hammered last month by Hurricane Helene. State and local election officials, benefiting from changes made by the Republican-controlled legislature, pulled off a herculean effort to ensure residents could cast their ballots as they dealt with power outages, lack of water and washed out roads.

By the time early voting in North Carolina had ended on Saturday, over 4.4 million voters — or nearly 57% of all registered voters in the state — had cast their ballots. As of Monday, turnout in the 25 western counties affected by the hurricane was even stronger at 59% of registered voters, state election board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said. (AP inputs)

Special puja was held on Monday and Tuesday at the Shree Dharmasastha Temple at Thulaseendrapuram in Tiruvayur district, Tamil Nadu, the ancestral village of US Vice President Kamala Harris, for her victory in the Presidential polls.

The Sree Dharmasastha Temple in Thulaseendrapuram is the ancestral temple of Kamala Harris' mother, Shyamala Gopalan. Kamala's grandfather, P. C. Gopalan, played a key role in renovating the family's ancestral temple, and the family regularly visits to attend pujas dedicated to their family deity. Kumaresan, a villager in Thulaseendrapuram told IANS, "The whole village is praying for Kamala, who has roots here. Several poojas have been conducted for her across many temples, including her ancestral Sree Dharmasastha Temple." "She is a woman fighting for a position that can influence global affairs, and we are proud to be part of her legacy. We are praying earnestly for her victory."

The village is hopeful for Kamala's success, and if she wins, they plan to celebrate with 'annadanam' (free food distribution).

The US federal law enforcement and election security agencies are debunking two new examples of Russian election disinformation on the eve of Election Day, highlighting attempts by foreign actors to sow doubt in the U.S. voting process and warning that the efforts run the risk of inciting violence against election officials.

In a joint statement late Monday, federal officials pointed to a recent article posted by Russian actors falsely claiming that U.S. officials across presidential swing states were orchestrating a plan to commit fraud, as well as a video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona.

U.S. intelligence reveals that Russia-linked influence actors “are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences,” read the statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials.”

A spokesperson for the Russian Embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Federal officials warned that Russia will likely release additional “manufactured content” on Election Day and poses “the most active threat” when it comes to foreign election influence. The statement also noted that Iran remains a “significant foreign influence threat to U.S. elections."

The effort described by federal officials is part of a wide-ranging influence operation by Russia designed to undermine confidence in the electoral process and sow discord among American voters. Intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia, which also interfered on Donald Trump’s behalf in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, again prefers the Republican nominee and is likely to persist in its influence operations well after Election Day.

Besides manufactured videos intended to promote disinformation, U.S. officials also have accused Russian state media of a covert, multimillion-dollar operation to spread pro-Russia content to American audiences and have seized dozens of internet domains they said fostered propaganda.

In their statement, officials also drew fresh attention to Iran’s attempts to interfere in the election, which include a hack-and-leak operation designed to harm Trump’s candidacy. The Justice Department in September charged three Iranian hackers in that effort.

Iranian actors also have created fake news sites and impersonated activists online in attempts to sway voters, according to analysts at Microsoft. The tech giant said last month that Iranian actors who allegedly sent emails aimed at intimidating U.S. voters in 2020 have been surveying election-related websites and major media outlets, raising concerns they could be preparing for another scheme this year. (AP)

The US Presidential Election 2024 results will come down to seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The elections are only hours away and soon Americans will start casting their vote on Tuesday, November 5. Considering there are multiple time zones in the US, it will be a game of hopscotch to keep up with key times in each of the states. Here is a look at the Election Day timeline across the seven swing states, with all listings in Eastern Standard Time.

Arizona: Polls open at 8 am in Arizona, which Joe Biden carried in 2020 by 0.3%. He was only the second Democratic presidential candidate to do so in nearly 70 years. Polls will close at 9 pm. Arizona does not release votes until all precincts have reported or one hour after all polls are closed, whichever is first. In 2020, The Associated Press first reported Arizona results at 10:02 p.m. ET on Nov. 3, Election Day, and declared Biden the winner at 2:51 a.m. ET on Nov. 4.

Georgia: Polls open at 7 am in Georgia, which played a key role in 2020. Biden was the first Democrat in a White House race to carry the state since Bill Clinton in 1992, defeating Trump by less than one-quarter of a percentage point, a margin of 11,779 votes. Georgia’s polls close at 7 p.m. In 2020, the AP first reported Georgia results at 7:20 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the state’s winner at 7:58 p.m. ET on Nov. 19, more than two weeks after Election Day.

Michigan: Polls open at 7 am ET in Michigan, one of the “blue wall” states that went narrowly for Trump in 2016 after almost 30 years of voting for Democratic candidates. Biden won it back four years later. His margin was about 154,000 votes out of more than 5.5 million votes. Michigan covers two time zones, but polls in most of the state close at 8 p.m. ET, with the rest at 9 pm ET. In 2020, the AP first reported Michigan results at 8:08 pm ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the winner at 5:58 pm ET on Nov. 4.

Nevada: Polls open at 10 am ET in Nevada, the smallest electoral vote prize of the battlegrounds. But it has one of the best track records as a presidential bellwether. The candidate who won Nevada has gone on to win the White House in 27 of the past 30 presidential elections. Polls close at 10 pm ET. The state doesn’t release results until the last person in line has voted, so there’s usually been a wait between poll close and the first results. In 2020, the AP first reported Nevada results at 11:41 pm ET on Nov 3 and declared Biden the winner at 12:13 pm ET on Nov 7.

North Carolina: Polls open at 6:30 am ET in North Carolina, which has been carried by Democrats only two times in presidential elections since 1968. But the state has stayed competitive for both major parties. Trump’s 2020 victory in North Carolina, by about 1 percentage point, was his smallest winning margin in any state. Polls close at 7:30 pm ET. In 2020, the AP first reported results at 7:42 pm ET on Nov. 3 and declared Trump the winner at 3:49 p.m. ET on Nov. 13.

Pennsylvania: Polls open at 7 a.m. ET in Pennsylvania, another “blue wall” state. Biden’s 2020 margin in Pennsylvania was about 80,000 votes out of more than 6.9 million votes. This year, it’s the spot where Harris and Trump met for the first time at their sole debate in September in Philadelphia. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET in a state with more electoral votes, 19, than any of the battlegrounds. In 2020, the AP first reported results at 8:09 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the winner at 11:25 a.m. ET on Nov. 7.

Wisconsin: Polls open at 8 a.m. ET in Wisconsin, the third “blue wall” state in this group. Wisconsin is no stranger to close elections; the margin of victory in the state was less than 1 percentage point in 2020, 2016, 2004 and 2000. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET. In 2020, the AP first reported Wisconsin results at 9:07 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the winner at 2:16 p.m. ET on Nov. 4. (With AP inputs)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to lead the United States to "new heights of glory" as he delivered his closing pitch at the final rally of his campaign.

"With your vote tomorrow, we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America -- indeed, the world -- to new heights of glory," he told the crowd in the early hours of the morning in Grand Rapids, in the swing state of Michigan.

Kamala Harris on Monday urged Americans to vote in one of the "closest races in history" as she gave her final campaign speech in the battleground US state of Pennsylvania. "Just one more day in the most consequential election of our lifetimes and the momentum is on our side," she said in Philadelphia. "This could be one of the closest races in history -- every single vote matters."

American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jon Bon Jovi gave a slow and soulful rendition of his band’s 1986 working-class anthem “Livin’ on a Prayer” at a Kamala Harris campaign rally in Detroit on Monday. Taking the stage just after Tim Walz, Bon Jovi, who recently had major vocal surgery, kept his singing subdued as he played acoustic guitar and left the soaring section to a pair of backup singers.

“Go to the polls tomorrow, let’s elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, America’s countin’ on you,” Bon Jovi told the crowd in a low, gruff voice after the song. (AP)

Over 36 Indian Americans are running for local bodies and state legislation elections across the United States reflecting the growing interest among this small ethnic community to be part of the political mainstream. “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi comments at various Indian American gatherings motivating and encouraging community members to run for elections at all levels.

Probably the largest number of Indian Americans running for local offices are in the state of California, which sends two members to the House of Representatives – Ro Khanna and Dr Ami Bera – in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris whose mother was from India.

Those include Adlah Chisti who is running for County Supervisor for District 11, Aliya Chisti for City College Board San Francisco, Darshana Patel for State Assembly, Nicole Fernandez for San Mateo City Council, Nithya Raman for Los Angeles City Council, Richa Awasthi for Foster City Council and Sukhdeep Kaur for Emeryville City Council. Read More...

Trump holds four rallies: The four rallies span three states. He began in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is making two stops in Pennsylvania with events in Reading and Pittsburgh. He will end his campaign with a Monday night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Harris in Pennsylvania: The vice president spent all of Monday in Pennsylvania visiting working-class areas, including Allentown. She is ending with a late-night Philadelphia rally that includes Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

Early voting numbers: About 82 million Americans have already cast their vote. North Carolina is seeing record turnout, surpassing its early-voting record set in 2020. Officials said 57% of the state’s 7.8 million registered voters cast ballots in the general election as of Sunday morning. (AP)

All eyes are on the American voters who have come out and formed lines in front of the polling stations on Tuesday to exercise their franchise in the country's most keenly contested presidential election in recent decades. The local voters formed a long queue at a polling station at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, to decide who is going to be their next president. Speculation is rife whether the US voters will choose Vice President Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump.

Voting rights in Washington underwent steady changes over the decades. The voters here brought an amendment to the state constitution allowing women to cast their votes and also run for office. Also, the Washington voters got a poll tax eliminated by bringing in some electoral reforms in 1923. In those days, the election taxes were used to discriminate against certain sections of voters.

Here is a look at how the federal voting rights evolved in the American elections over centuries. In 1776, only white male landowners could vote. In 1870, a constitutional amendment ended voting barriers. In 1924, native Americans were granted citizenship and voting rights. In 1971, a constitutional amendment reduced the voting age to 18 from 21.

Washington: The US federal and election security agencies jointly issued a statement that Russian actors posted an article recently claiming that US officials were orchestrating a plan to commit electoral fraud in the swing states. The agencies sought to highlight alleged attempts by foreign actors to sow doubts over the voting process in the US elections. Meanwhile, the US intelligence officials accused influence actors linked to Russian agencies of making attempts 'to undermine the legitimacy of the election'.

Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice president, stands to be the first female president if elected. She has promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic worries and other issues without radically departing from the course set by President Joe Biden. Donald Trump, the Republican former president, has vowed to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on allies and foes alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Read More...

The polls put the US election on a knife-edge, but as Americans go to vote, Thailand's superstar baby hippo Moo Deng has predicted former president Donald Trump will regain the White House. The chubby chomper took the internet by storm with her adorable antics at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, quickly becoming a staple of social media memes and inspiring a raft of merchandise.

Now Moo Deng, whose name means "bouncy pork", has predicted a comeback victory for the Republican over Democrat Kamala Harris. Offered two dishes of carved fruit, each emblazoned with one of the candidates' names, the four-month-old pigmy hippo chose Trump, in video posted online by the zoo. Moo Deng has proved a particular hit in the United States, where comedian Bowen Yang portrayed her in a "Saturday Night Live" comedy sketch.

She also beat both Trump and Harris in an unofficial presidential poll run by "The Tonight Show", taking 93 percent of the vote. While the soothsaying skills of hippos are largely untested, other animals have achieved global fame predicting the outcome of world events, most notably the legendary Paul the Octopus. The clairvoyant cephalopod shot to global stardom by correctly predicting eight matches in the 2010 World Cup from his aquarium in Germany. (AFP)

Voters in the US hamlet of Dixville Notch launched Election Day in the first minutes of Tuesday with a tied vote, mirroring the incredibly close national polls in the White House race.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each got three ballots in the tiny community in the northeastern state of New Hampshire which for decades has kicked off Election Day at the stroke of midnight Monday -- hours before the rest of the country's polling stations open. The Democratic vice president and Republican ex-president have been battling in a tense and exceptionally close race, with opinion polls largely tied.

To a gathered crowd of journalists, the vote opened with a rendition of the US national anthem performed on an accordion. Electoral laws in New Hampshire allow municipalities with fewer than 100 residents to open their polling stations at midnight and to close them when all registered voters have fulfilled their civic duty. Dixville Notch's residents voted unanimously for then candidate Joe Biden in 2020, reportedly only the second presidential hopeful to get all the votes since the midnight voting tradition began in 1960.

International tourists from the US Devony Evans, Sajron Silalenka, and Fiana Jones of United Kingdom joined local villagers during special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother's family has ancestral ties.

Panic buttons for poll workers, special weapons teams deployed on rooftops, and hundreds of National Guard personnel on standby. The 2024 US presidential campaign has been a particularly volatile one, and security for Election Day on Tuesday is being ramped up to unprecedented levels given concerns over possible civil unrest, election chicanery, or violence against election workers.

The states of Oregon, Washington and Nevada have activated the National Guard -- and the Pentagon says at least 17 states have placed a total of 600 National Guard troops on standby if needed. The FBI has set up a national election command post in Washington to monitor threats 24 hours a day through election week, and security has been bolstered at many of the nearly 100,000 US polling stations. (AFP)

Six voters of Dixville Notch in New Hamshire cast their ballots at midnight, marking the first votes in the US election, news agency AFP reported. The tiny town in the middle of the forest, near the Canadian border, has traditionally voted "first in the nation" since 1960.

The US Electoral College is a process in which electors or representatives from each state in numbers proportional to the state’s population cast their vote and determine who will be president. As Americans cast their vote, they vote for a group of people called electors. Except in the states of Maine and Nebraska, if a candidate receives the majority of the votes from the people of a state then the candidate will receive all electoral votes of that state. The presidential nominee with the most electoral votes becomes the President of the United States. Popular vote is the vote for a US presidential candidate made by qualified voters, as opposed to that made by the Electoral College

Each state gets a certain number of electors based on its representation in Congress. There are a total of 538 electors selected according to each state’s policy. Each elector casts one vote following the general election, and the candidate who gets more than half (270) wins. The newly elected President and Vice President are inaugurated in January.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar expressed confidence on Tuesday that India-US relations would continue to grow steadily, regardless of the outcome of the US Presidential elections.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong at Parliament House in Canberra, EAM Jaishankar also credited former US President Donald Trump with reviving the QUAD alliance in 2017, marking a significant development in Indo-Pacific cooperation.

"We have seen steady progress in our relationship with the US over the last five presidencies, including a previous Trump presidency," IANS reported Jaishankar saying in response to a question on how India-US ties may evolve after the elections. "So, when we look at the American election, we are confident that, regardless of the outcome, our relationship with the US will continue to grow," he added.

The Howard University on Tuesday looked forward to hosting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris for her election night watch party. This marks the first time in modern history that a presidential election night event will be hosted on a college campus. Harris graduated from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in 1986.

Nigel Jhonson, a law student at Howard University, is upbeat about the event. “It is a momentous occasion. You always love to see your alumni, and your classmates doing big things. It is an honour to have the world here and the world to know the type of people the university produces. We produce leaders and the world ought to know that Howard University is synonymous with leadership," Jhonson told PTI.

Jade, a freshman at Howard who thinks Harris' election will help the college get prominence, said: “It feels great to have the spotlight on us and having alumni like the Vice President of US. I feel like it shows the university produces good students. This is history being created right here." Ben, who lives in the neighbourhood, said they were stoked about the fact that Harris could be the next US President. “It is very cool that we may have the first female president from the university." The campus has been transformed as it prepares to host Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

For years in deep-blue Maryland, U.S. Senate races often have been blowouts for solid Democratic incumbents against little-known Republicans, without much chance of an upset or control of the chamber potentially at stake. that's not the case with the race this year for an open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland.

Larry Hogan, a popular Republican who won two terms as governor, is the most competitive candidate for the GOP in years in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin. Still, he is facing an uphill battle against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince George's County, who could make history as the state's first Black U.S. senator in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1.

The stakes are unusually high for a Maryland race that includes a Republican who won significant Democratic support in his 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial victories. Hogan is only the second Republican in Maryland history to be reelected governor.

Democrats currently hold a 51-49 Senate advantage, including independent senators who caucus with Democrats. And Democrats have to defend 23 seats out of the 33 Senate seats on the ballot around the country this November. (AP)

It’s been more than three decades since Nevada voters overwhelmingly approved a law allowing abortions until 24 weeks of pregnancy. Now they must decide if they want to make it a constitutional right. Nevada is one of nine states where abortion rights are on the ballot, as supporters in the state and elsewhere try to strengthen abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that made abortion legal nationwide for 50 years. It’s a key issue that could drive voters to the polls in Nevada, a crucial presidential battleground, even if abortion access has been protected by state law since 1990. (AP)

Three-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana faces perhaps his toughest reelection challenge yet on Tuesday, with control of the Senate on the line in a state that’s veered sharply rightward since the 68-year-old grain farmer's first election.

Republicans have pinned their hopes on Tim Sheehy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and founder of an aerial firefighting company. Sheehy, 38, had early backing from party leaders including former President Donald Trump, clearing the political newcomer's path to win the June primary. This is the first time Tester’s name appears on the same ballot as Trump, who won Montana by wide margins in 2016 and 2020. (AP)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez is seeking a second term in New Mexico’s swing district along the U.S.-Mexico border, in a rematch against the Republican he ousted in 2022. GOP challenger Yvette Herrell waged her fourth consecutive campaign for Congress in the majority-Latino district that stretches from the border to Albuquerque.

In 2021, democratic state lawmakers redrew congressional boundaries to divvy up a politically conservative, oil-producing region among three districts. Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, has invoked his knowledge of the border region and its economy as the U.S.-born son of immigrants from Mexico. His campaign has proposed safeguards against cartels that smuggle drugs or migrants, and a humanitarian approach to asylum-seekers and support for abortion rights.

Herrell, a real estate agent and former state legislator, campaigned this year alongside Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in favor of hard-line immigration enforcement policies. She has denounced oversight of the border under President Biden while advocating for a return to efforts by former President Donald Trump to expand the border wall and to enforce requirements that asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. (AP)

Republicans represent all of Iowa's four congressional districts, but Democrats are hopeful of their chances in Tuesday's general election. Two of the districts are seen as especially competitive, including the 1st district in southeast Iowa and the 3rd district in central and southern Iowa. Republicans are expected to more easily retain control in the 2nd district in northeast Iowa and in the largely rural 4th district in western Iowa. (AP)

Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe is facing Missouri state Rep. Crystal Quade on Tuesday for the governorship. Kehoe is strongly favored to win in the heavily Republican state, where Quade is the House minority leader. Quade and other Missouri Democrats are hoping to wedge their way back into political relevance with help from abortion rights supporters, who could be more energized to vote with an abortion rights amendment on the ballot this year. Quade supports the amendment, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and if approved would be expected to undo the state's near-total abortion ban. (AP)

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s differences have long been clear. But on Monday night in Pittsburgh, their duelling rallies drove home just how large the gulf between them truly is.

Only 9 miles (14 kilometres) separated the two in the key Pennsylvania city. Trump spoke at PPG Paints Arena, home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, in one of his standard arena rally setups. Harris spoke at Carrie Furnaces, a historic steel facility with an event that nodded to Pittsburgh’s place as the heart of the country’s steel industry. Harris spoke for 10 minutes. Trump spoke for 950% more, clocking in an hour and 45 minutes.

Harris was introduced by comedian Cedric the Entertainer and seen off by a performance from artist Katy Perry. Trump brought conservative commentator Megyn Kelly on stage and touted the support of Roberto Clemente Jr., the son of the famed Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder. Harris is closing her campaign by barely mentioning Trump directly. “This is it,” Harris said at her event. “Tomorrow is Election Day, and the momentum is on our side.” Trump repeatedly invoked Harris — and her nearby rally.

“If you vote for Kamala, you will have four more years of misery, failure, and disaster, and our country may never recover,” Trump told his audience, earning boos. Later, he added, “Kamala has a little rally going on. And when I say little, I mean little.” (AP)

Election Day 2024 arrived Tuesday with tens of millions of Americans having already cast their ballots. Those include record numbers in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states that could decide the winner.

The early turnout in Georgia, which has flipped between the Republican and Democratic nominees in the previous two presidential elections, has been so robust — over 4 million voters — that a top official in the secretary of state’s office said the big day could look like a “ghost town” at the polls.

As of Monday, Associated Press tracking of advance voting nationwide showed roughly 82 million ballots already cast — slightly more than half the total number of votes in the presidential election four years earlier. That’s driven partly by Republican voters, who were casting early ballots at a higher rate than in recent previous elections after a campaign by former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee to counter the Democrats’ longstanding advantage in the early vote.

That included in the parts of western North Carolina hammered last month by Hurricane Helene. State and local election officials, benefiting from changes made by the Republican-controlled legislature, pulled off a herculean effort to ensure residents could cast their ballots as they dealt with power outages, lack of water and washed out roads.

By the time early voting in North Carolina had ended on Saturday, over 4.4 million voters — or nearly 57% of all registered voters in the state — had cast their ballots. As of Monday, turnout in the 25 western counties affected by the hurricane was even stronger at 59% of registered voters, state election board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said. (AP inputs)

Special puja was held on Monday and Tuesday at the Shree Dharmasastha Temple at Thulaseendrapuram in Tiruvayur district, Tamil Nadu, the ancestral village of US Vice President Kamala Harris, for her victory in the Presidential polls.

The Sree Dharmasastha Temple in Thulaseendrapuram is the ancestral temple of Kamala Harris' mother, Shyamala Gopalan. Kamala's grandfather, P. C. Gopalan, played a key role in renovating the family's ancestral temple, and the family regularly visits to attend pujas dedicated to their family deity. Kumaresan, a villager in Thulaseendrapuram told IANS, "The whole village is praying for Kamala, who has roots here. Several poojas have been conducted for her across many temples, including her ancestral Sree Dharmasastha Temple." "She is a woman fighting for a position that can influence global affairs, and we are proud to be part of her legacy. We are praying earnestly for her victory."

The village is hopeful for Kamala's success, and if she wins, they plan to celebrate with 'annadanam' (free food distribution).

The US federal law enforcement and election security agencies are debunking two new examples of Russian election disinformation on the eve of Election Day, highlighting attempts by foreign actors to sow doubt in the U.S. voting process and warning that the efforts run the risk of inciting violence against election officials.

In a joint statement late Monday, federal officials pointed to a recent article posted by Russian actors falsely claiming that U.S. officials across presidential swing states were orchestrating a plan to commit fraud, as well as a video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona.

U.S. intelligence reveals that Russia-linked influence actors “are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences,” read the statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials.”

A spokesperson for the Russian Embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Federal officials warned that Russia will likely release additional “manufactured content” on Election Day and poses “the most active threat” when it comes to foreign election influence. The statement also noted that Iran remains a “significant foreign influence threat to U.S. elections."

The effort described by federal officials is part of a wide-ranging influence operation by Russia designed to undermine confidence in the electoral process and sow discord among American voters. Intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia, which also interfered on Donald Trump’s behalf in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, again prefers the Republican nominee and is likely to persist in its influence operations well after Election Day.

Besides manufactured videos intended to promote disinformation, U.S. officials also have accused Russian state media of a covert, multimillion-dollar operation to spread pro-Russia content to American audiences and have seized dozens of internet domains they said fostered propaganda.

In their statement, officials also drew fresh attention to Iran’s attempts to interfere in the election, which include a hack-and-leak operation designed to harm Trump’s candidacy. The Justice Department in September charged three Iranian hackers in that effort.

Iranian actors also have created fake news sites and impersonated activists online in attempts to sway voters, according to analysts at Microsoft. The tech giant said last month that Iranian actors who allegedly sent emails aimed at intimidating U.S. voters in 2020 have been surveying election-related websites and major media outlets, raising concerns they could be preparing for another scheme this year. (AP)

The US Presidential Election 2024 results will come down to seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The elections are only hours away and soon Americans will start casting their vote on Tuesday, November 5. Considering there are multiple time zones in the US, it will be a game of hopscotch to keep up with key times in each of the states. Here is a look at the Election Day timeline across the seven swing states, with all listings in Eastern Standard Time.

Arizona: Polls open at 8 am in Arizona, which Joe Biden carried in 2020 by 0.3%. He was only the second Democratic presidential candidate to do so in nearly 70 years. Polls will close at 9 pm. Arizona does not release votes until all precincts have reported or one hour after all polls are closed, whichever is first. In 2020, The Associated Press first reported Arizona results at 10:02 p.m. ET on Nov. 3, Election Day, and declared Biden the winner at 2:51 a.m. ET on Nov. 4.

Georgia: Polls open at 7 am in Georgia, which played a key role in 2020. Biden was the first Democrat in a White House race to carry the state since Bill Clinton in 1992, defeating Trump by less than one-quarter of a percentage point, a margin of 11,779 votes. Georgia’s polls close at 7 p.m. In 2020, the AP first reported Georgia results at 7:20 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the state’s winner at 7:58 p.m. ET on Nov. 19, more than two weeks after Election Day.

Michigan: Polls open at 7 am ET in Michigan, one of the “blue wall” states that went narrowly for Trump in 2016 after almost 30 years of voting for Democratic candidates. Biden won it back four years later. His margin was about 154,000 votes out of more than 5.5 million votes. Michigan covers two time zones, but polls in most of the state close at 8 p.m. ET, with the rest at 9 pm ET. In 2020, the AP first reported Michigan results at 8:08 pm ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the winner at 5:58 pm ET on Nov. 4.

Nevada: Polls open at 10 am ET in Nevada, the smallest electoral vote prize of the battlegrounds. But it has one of the best track records as a presidential bellwether. The candidate who won Nevada has gone on to win the White House in 27 of the past 30 presidential elections. Polls close at 10 pm ET. The state doesn’t release results until the last person in line has voted, so there’s usually been a wait between poll close and the first results. In 2020, the AP first reported Nevada results at 11:41 pm ET on Nov 3 and declared Biden the winner at 12:13 pm ET on Nov 7.

North Carolina: Polls open at 6:30 am ET in North Carolina, which has been carried by Democrats only two times in presidential elections since 1968. But the state has stayed competitive for both major parties. Trump’s 2020 victory in North Carolina, by about 1 percentage point, was his smallest winning margin in any state. Polls close at 7:30 pm ET. In 2020, the AP first reported results at 7:42 pm ET on Nov. 3 and declared Trump the winner at 3:49 p.m. ET on Nov. 13.

Pennsylvania: Polls open at 7 a.m. ET in Pennsylvania, another “blue wall” state. Biden’s 2020 margin in Pennsylvania was about 80,000 votes out of more than 6.9 million votes. This year, it’s the spot where Harris and Trump met for the first time at their sole debate in September in Philadelphia. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET in a state with more electoral votes, 19, than any of the battlegrounds. In 2020, the AP first reported results at 8:09 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the winner at 11:25 a.m. ET on Nov. 7.

Wisconsin: Polls open at 8 a.m. ET in Wisconsin, the third “blue wall” state in this group. Wisconsin is no stranger to close elections; the margin of victory in the state was less than 1 percentage point in 2020, 2016, 2004 and 2000. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET. In 2020, the AP first reported Wisconsin results at 9:07 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 and declared Biden the winner at 2:16 p.m. ET on Nov. 4. (With AP inputs)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to lead the United States to "new heights of glory" as he delivered his closing pitch at the final rally of his campaign.

"With your vote tomorrow, we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America -- indeed, the world -- to new heights of glory," he told the crowd in the early hours of the morning in Grand Rapids, in the swing state of Michigan.

Kamala Harris on Monday urged Americans to vote in one of the "closest races in history" as she gave her final campaign speech in the battleground US state of Pennsylvania. "Just one more day in the most consequential election of our lifetimes and the momentum is on our side," she said in Philadelphia. "This could be one of the closest races in history -- every single vote matters."

American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jon Bon Jovi gave a slow and soulful rendition of his band’s 1986 working-class anthem “Livin’ on a Prayer” at a Kamala Harris campaign rally in Detroit on Monday. Taking the stage just after Tim Walz, Bon Jovi, who recently had major vocal surgery, kept his singing subdued as he played acoustic guitar and left the soaring section to a pair of backup singers.

“Go to the polls tomorrow, let’s elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, America’s countin’ on you,” Bon Jovi told the crowd in a low, gruff voice after the song. (AP)

Over 36 Indian Americans are running for local bodies and state legislation elections across the United States reflecting the growing interest among this small ethnic community to be part of the political mainstream. “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi comments at various Indian American gatherings motivating and encouraging community members to run for elections at all levels.

Probably the largest number of Indian Americans running for local offices are in the state of California, which sends two members to the House of Representatives – Ro Khanna and Dr Ami Bera – in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris whose mother was from India.

Those include Adlah Chisti who is running for County Supervisor for District 11, Aliya Chisti for City College Board San Francisco, Darshana Patel for State Assembly, Nicole Fernandez for San Mateo City Council, Nithya Raman for Los Angeles City Council, Richa Awasthi for Foster City Council and Sukhdeep Kaur for Emeryville City Council. Read More...

Trump holds four rallies: The four rallies span three states. He began in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is making two stops in Pennsylvania with events in Reading and Pittsburgh. He will end his campaign with a Monday night event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Harris in Pennsylvania: The vice president spent all of Monday in Pennsylvania visiting working-class areas, including Allentown. She is ending with a late-night Philadelphia rally that includes Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

Early voting numbers: About 82 million Americans have already cast their vote. North Carolina is seeing record turnout, surpassing its early-voting record set in 2020. Officials said 57% of the state’s 7.8 million registered voters cast ballots in the general election as of Sunday morning. (AP)