U.S. election: How to watch and what to know about Harris-Trump race

You can get up-to-the-minute live results from the US Election on our results page when polls close. 

The U.S. election is fast approaching, and Canadians are eager to understand the implications of the race between U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Global News has been covering the campaign and the policy platforms of both candidates and will be live on election night as results pour in.

Here’s everything you need to know about Tuesday’s historic election.

Starting at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific on Election Day (Nov. 5), Global News: America Votes will provide a distinctly Canadian perspective on the U.S. election results.

Global National anchor Dawna Friesen will host the national live stream event from Washington, D.C., which can be viewed on multiple online platforms, including GlobalNews.ca, YouTube, the Global TV App, Pluto TV and Prime.

You can also watch the special on television on BC1 beginning at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Global’s Washington bureau team of Jackson Proskow and Reggie Cecchini will join Friesen in the U.S. capital. Eric Sorensen and Mercedes Stephenson will be in-studio providing expert analysis and insight on the election results throughout the evening.

2:41 Harris says Trump ‘obsessed with revenge,’ calls back to Jan. 6 riot in closing argument

Reporters will also be stationed at the Trump and Harris campaign headquarters and in the key battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.

GlobalNews.ca will also have live, real-time election results as soon as polls close across the 50 states, allowing viewers to follow the results live as counting begins until a winner is announced.

Polls close at different times across the U.S. The first polls to close include parts of Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. Eastern, and continue each hour until 1 a.m. Eastern when the final polls close in Alaska.

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The following states are considered swing or battleground states that are likely to decide the winner of the presidency, along with their poll closing times:

• Arizona – 9 p.m. Eastern
• Nevada – 10 p.m. Eastern
• Wisconsin – 9 p.m. Eastern
• Michigan – 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern depending on time zone
• Pennsylvania – 8 p.m. Eastern
• North Carolina – 7:30 p.m. Eastern
• Georgia – 7 p.m. Eastern

The process for electing the American president and vice-president is called the Electoral College. Enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, the system is intended to balance the preference of the majority with that of individual states.

To become president, a candidate needs to receive at least 270 out of 538 electoral votes. The ballots are cast by officials called electors who are affiliated with either of the two parties.

2:17 US election: How the electoral college system decides who wins the White House

In each state, the political party that receives the most votes for its presidential candidate gets to see its slate of electors cast their ballots for president.

This system is why the presidential race will likely come down to the above seven battleground states.

Click here for a more thorough explanation of how the Electoral College works.

The latest FiveThirtyEight polling average shows less than two points separate Harris and Trump nationally. In the seven states that could ultimately decide the winner of the Electoral College and the presidency, the gap is just a fraction of one per cent.

That makes every vote consequential — including mail-in ballots, tens of millions of which are expected to be cast by Election Day.

In some of the critical swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, state law says election workers cannot start processing mail-in ballots for counting until the morning of the election. Processing requires each mail-in ballot to be manually opened and readied for counting, with workers flattening the ballots by hand.

1:56 U.S. election results may not be known for days, officials warn

If the results reflect the opinion polls showing Harris and Trump neck-and-neck, it could mean waiting days for those mail-in ballots to be counted.

Global News closely follows the Associated Press Decision Team, which analyzes vote data and calls races only when it becomes clear a result cannot be changed through additional counting.

Harris and Trump have offered starkly different visions for the country and the world, and both candidates’ platforms have implications for Canada.

On the economy, Harris has focused on addressing affordability issues, while Trump has promised blanket tariffs on all foreign imports, which many economists say could drag Canada into a recession.

Both have said they will renegotiate at least some parts of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, the trade pact that is up for review in 2026.

4:09 How the U.S. election could impact Canadians

Immigration has also been a major issue of the election, with Trump vowing severe crackdowns at U.S. borders and the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Harris has also pledged to impose limits and reforms on immigration, but her proposals are less hardline than Trump’s.

There are also foreign policy differences. Harris has supported a continued focus on global alliances, while Trump has suggested a more isolationist approach.

Canada could face continued pressure and even isolation from either a Trump or Harris presidency over defence spending and immigration policy, experts warn.

With the race so close, voter turnout may end up deciding the winner and is being monitored closely.

The last presidential election in 2020 saw the highest voter turnout of the 21st century, with over 158.4 million ballots cast.

U.S. President Joe Biden won the election with 81.2 million votes over Trump, the incumbent president at the time, who earned 74.2 million votes.

Biden won the Electoral College by narrowly winning most of the key states that are critical again this year: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin. Those states helped Biden reach 306 electoral votes versus 232 for Trump, who won North Carolina.