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All anyone is talking about today is the presidential election, and so expect news outlets to have wall-to-wall coverage of the results, but you can filter some of that noise by going straight to the source and getting only the results you want, especially from official sites in key states.
Election Day is headlined this year with the race for president between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Like the last election cycle, experts predict a tight race that could come down to results from a handful of key battleground states. Turnout is also anticipated to be high this year, with over 84 million people voting early in the US so far, and states like Georgia already reporting record-breaking numbers. For comparison, over 101 million people voted early in the 2020 general election.
Read on to find out where you’ll be able to find official Election Day updates, and for more, find out how you can see what’s on your ballot this year and see if your state lets you register to vote today.
What are the key battleground states in 2024?
On account of the mechanics of the Electoral College system, it is often the case in recent decades that presidential elections are ultimately decided by a handful of “battleground states,” also known as “swing states.” These are states with a population more evenly divided between Democratic and Republican voters than most, making it more likely that they could “swing” either way during a presidential election and decide the outcome.
This year, seven states are considered to be the key battlegrounds: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These are the states whose results will most likely garner the most attention come Election Day.
Where can I get official voting results for the key battleground states?
For each of these states, you’ll be able to get Election Day results online from an official state government website, typically the Secretary of State site, but also potentially the state Board of Elections site. Below is where to check results for each battleground state:
What’s a simpler way to follow results today?
If you’d prefer not to take in the election’s results this way and maybe want something simpler while still cutting back on all the news feed noise, you have of course options. One in particular worth noting is CNN’s new “Magic Wall” app, which offers an at-a-glance look at how the results are going using a map of the US. States will shift between red or blue depending on the final results, and you can chose to see updated results for the presidential race, House races, Senate races and gubernatorial races.
Numerous other outlets and organizations are offer similar election updates via the web, with result maps available from places like ABC News, Bloomberg, Reuters and 270toWin.
The easiest way to track the election is with Google
if even that is too much and you want to keep track of the election but don’t want to download an application or go to a specific website, you can use Google, which pulls US election results from The Associated Press (AP), a trusted source with a long history of accurate election results.
In Google, simply type “election” or “election results” and a 2024 US elections panel will appear at the top of Google, giving you different options to browse through, including overview (top stories, news and so on), dates, results, how to vote, where to vote and more. In the Results tab, you’ll see presidential results first (results expected starting around 4 PM PT and later). You can browse through results for the Senate and House, governor races, and ballot measures.
You can view election results nationally or by state.
If you’re an iPhone user, track the election from your lock screen
If you’re an iPhone user, there’s an even easier way to track the election. Starting today, you can go into Apple News and opt-in to get live, up-to-date results of the election from your lock screen or directly on your home screen. As long as you have an iPhone 14 Pro or later, you can go into the News app and tap the Follow the election live banner to get a large and interactive Live Activity widget to view realtime election updates and results later today.
The election Live Activities widget will go live later today.
When could we know the winner of the 2024 presidential election?
Don’t expect to learn final results when the first polls on the East Coast start to close at 6 p.m. ET. Be wary of politicians or partisans who do call the race early. Keep your guard up for nonsense you may hear from so-called experts. While some elections have been called on election night, you probably won’t know who won by the time you go to bed tonight.
In 2020, it took till the Saturday after Election Day for the result of the presidential race to be called, and voters are being cautioned to again not expect a firm result by the end of Election Day, Nov. 5, owing largely to the seemingly close nature of the race. The closer an election is in a given state, the longer it takes for enough ballots to be counted to get the final result.
While we probably won’t wait to know the results for a month, states need to certify their election results by Dec. 11.
For more on the election, find out where each candidate stands on the child tax credit and how the election could change the way we use the internet.
