The 2024 US election, which went to the polls on Tuesday, is set to become the most expensive in history, with total contributions reaching $15.9 billion.

The spending, which includes congressional contests, will surpass the $15.1 billion spent in 2020 and more than double 2016’s $6.5 billion, according to nonprofit OpenSecrets.

In the hotly contested presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris has emerged as the fundraising leader. 

Her campaign directly raised over $1 billion, with 40 percent coming from small donors, plus an additional $586 million from supporting political action committees.

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US Elections are underway, and authorities have arrested two men for making violent threats. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, federal authorities have registered another potential life threat against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. A 25-year-old man, Isaac Sissel, has been charged with making threats to carry out an attack against conservative Christians if Trump wins the election.

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Former US president Barack Obama urges people to show respect for poll workers in a post on X.

 

Elon Musk took to X to announce: “Just voted in Cameron County, Texas, home of Starbase!”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visits campaign headquarters after voting.

Kamala Harris’s running mate Tim Walz has said he believes Donald Trump “probably will” concede the election if he loses.

While talking to reporters before boarding a plane from Pennsylvania to Washington DC Tuesday, he said he was “feeling good about this.”

Advisors have reportedly urged Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to declare victory prematurely if he has sufficient lead in key swing states like Pennsylvania, The Guardian reported citing people close to him.

According to the report, the general consensus among the Trump team is that the former president has nothing to lose if he makes a victory announcement based on a lead of several hundred thousand votes in swing states. Trump has been advised to make a similar announcement if his internal pollsters give him the green light, even before the results are officially declared.

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The FBI said on Tuesday that fake bomb threats have been made to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains.

“None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” it said in a statement. It did not identify the states.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also blamed a Russian operation for two non-credible bomb threats that prompted an evacuation of two Fulton County polling places. “We have identified the source,” Raffensperger told reporters. “It was from Russia. They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.”
 

US Capitol Police (USCP) just said they have arrested a man at the visitor centre who “smelled like fuel, had a torch & a flare gun.” The man had two containers with him, which smelled like gasoline.

“Our officers just arrested a man who was stopped during our screening process at the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC). The man smelled like fuel, had a torch & a flare gun,” USCP said in a statement. The man was immediately detained.

Kamala Harris cheered the end of the Boeing machinist strike which had left the assembly lines idle for seven weeks. The agreement was finalised by the International Association of Machinists on the eve of Election Day and included a 38 per cent wage increase for workers. 

“I want to congratulate Boeing and the IAM for reaching an agreement that secures historic wage increases and benefits for these workers,” said Harris, in a statement. 

“This agreement represents a positive step for Boeing’s future as a leader in the aerospace industry. As I always say: collective bargaining works,” she added.

 

Trump took to X and wrote, “Republicans: We are doing GREAT! Stay on Line. Do not let them move you. STAY ON LINE AND VOTE!” 

When Trump was asked about his stance over Florida’s abortion measure, he first said that he had done “a great job bringing it back to the states.” When he was asked for the second time, he snapped at the reporter and said, “You should stop talking about it.”

If the abortion measure is applied, it will prevent lawmakers from passing laws which penalises, prohibit, restrict or delay abortion till fetal viability.

A man was arrested by the police after he said that he would come back with a gun and burn the polling site. The man had gone to vote in the town of Fowler but was informed he was ineligible to vote because he had failed to re-registered after release from prison.

In a news release, New York State Police said that they hunted down the man and arrested him.

Trump said that 1-day voting and paper ballots should be made a norm.

“I’m hearing in Pennsylvania they won’t have an answer ‘til two or three days from now. I think it’s an absolute outrage if that’s the case,” said Trump. “It looks like we have a very substantial lead,” he added.

 

Speaking about the election results, Trump said, “If it’s a fair election, I’d be the first one to acknowledge”. He added that he won’t challenge the results as long as it is fair.

 

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that he is “very confident” about clinching victory in the election and added that “it won’t even be close”.

 “I feel very confident. I hear we’re doing very well everywhere. It won’t even be close,” Trump declared.

 

The polling booths have opened in Hawaii, the last state in the United States where voting has commenced.

Hawaii has four electoral college votes and will be the among the last states to close polls at 19:00 local time. 

Voting hours will be open for two extra hours in a Cambria County of Pennsylvania after a software malfunction affected ballot-scanning machines, according to Pennsylvania state judge orders. 

The officials said that the problem caused some voter confusion, with some leaving without casting a ballot.

Trump has cast his ballot in Palm Beach, Florida, and stressed that his latest presidential campaign was the best yet.

While standing next to his wife, Melania Trump, he said, “I ran a great campaign. I think it was maybe the best of the three. We did great in the first one. We did much better in the second one but something happened. I would say this is the best campaign we’ve run.” 

Former first lady Michelle Obama, woes voters to back Harris on Election Day, says, she has “proven again and again that she will be working not for herself, but for you.”

Today is the last day for us to #DoSomething to get @KamalaHarris elected! What a remarkable few months this has been — in record time, she’s built an extraordinary campaign, set forth a clear policy agenda, and proven again and again that she will be working not for herself, but… pic.twitter.com/oxGC820KoL

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) November 5, 2024

As Americans get busy voting on the election day to choose their next president, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are set to watch the election night at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida and Howard University in Washington D.C. respectively. 

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Severe flooding in Missouri has knocked out power to one Missouri polling site, while another has become difficult to access. Dozens of roads across the state are also closed, creating challenges for voters.

Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon emphasised the importance of patience during a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC.

We’re going to be patient,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said. “We’re going to be very focused on what’s happening in the early part of the night. But we know some of our bigger battleground states are not going to be fully tallied until later in the night or early in the morning.”

 

As the United States has begun punching in their secret ballot, the Indian diaspora is in the midst of some limelight. Both the Republican and Democratic parties have an India connect, no prize for guessing. 

Will America elect its first ‘Madam President’ or will a former president assume office.

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With East Coast open for voting, the states like Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin going to ballot.

The candidates need 270 votes to win. The battleground states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Republican candidate Donald Trump, in his last push before the Election Day on November, urged the supporters to ‘show up and vote’ while addressing a rally in Michigan.

The state results could start pouring in shortly after the polls close, especially in states where there is not a close race. 

The first polls are scheduled to close at 6:00 EST on Tuesday evening, and the last at 01:00 EST early on Wednesday.

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he elections officials have said that they have drafted legal filings if county officials try and delay the result certification process.

The steps are to ensure to no drama ensues if a candidate loses the election, especially Republican candidate Donald Trump who has already cried foul of malfeasance.

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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has decided to launch and Election Day campaign to urge people to vote with 100 new billboards in battleground states.

The DNC is going to put up 24 billboards in Pennsylvania and 32 in Nevada plus 300 digital kiosk to focus on college campuses in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris each received three votes in Dixville Notch, a small New Hampshire resort town. Known for its long-standing tradition since 1960, Dixville Notch holds the distinction of being the first in the United States to complete in-person voting. At precisely midnight on Tuesday, the town’s six residents started voting, and the results were counted and

Donald Trump has returned to Florida following his final rally, which wrapped up shortly after 2:00 AM.

Democratic candidate and vice president Kamala Harris delivered her final speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania just before midnight as US goes to presidential election 2024 on Tuesday (Nov 5). Harris reminded the crowd that the race isn’t over yet and every single vote matters. Click here to read the full report

Election Day in the United States has officially kicked off. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris took to social media platform X, urging voters to take part. She wrote, “America, this is the moment to make your voices heard. Go to http://IWillVote.com to find everything you need to cast your ballot today.”

United States presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are fighting neck-to-neck in the elections and rallying the swing state voters.

However, in this battle for the White House, many are wondering if Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Harris will be able to hold the “blue wall”. Click here to read the full report.

Following Dixville Notch, polling stations are now active in Vermont, marking the official start of US election day.

Voting began at midnight Eastern Time on Monday in the small New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch, which traditionally opens its polls early. At 5:00 AM ET, the next polling stations opened in Vermont.

Over two dozen states have indicated that they would be willing to send National Guard troops to Washington if requested in the weeks following the November 5 presidential election.

With just hours left for the presidential election in the United States (US), intelligence agencies warned that foreign influence narratives would focus on swing states. 

The Intelligence Community (IC) had been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of US elections.

A threat is also there from Iran.

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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.

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The United States is set to vote on Nov 5 in the presidential election with Democrat Kamala Harris facing off against Republican Donald Trump. Polling will begin between 7 am and 9 am local time in most states and will close at different times everywhere, but most polling stations will close between 7 pm Eastern Time and 11 pm Eastern Time.

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The small town of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire has kicked of Election Day with its traditional midnight vote early Tuesday.

A report by the news agency Reuters said that the town’s six registered voters gathered at the Tillotson Room of the Balsams Resort to cast the first votes on Election Day.