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This is the easy part. Donald Trump (74) is undoubtedly the most famous man in the world and Joe Biden (77) is a former vice president
Candidates and their platforms
Republican Party: Trump is the candidate of the Republicans (also known as the Republican Party or the Great Old Party). Few believed the former reality TV star could make it to the White House, but now four more years is a real possibility.
Its platform is built on promises of lower taxes, gun rights, and crackdown on immigrants. Former Republican presidents include George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon.
Democratic Party: Biden wasn’t the first choice for many Democrats, but he eventually became something of a compromise candidate.
He served in the White House alongside Barack Obama for eight years and would be the oldest first-term president in history if elected. Biden says he will rejoin the Paris climate accord and wants to open public health insurance for everyone.
It prides itself on its Irish roots, dating back to Mayo and Louth. Former Democratic presidents include Bill Clinton and John F Kennedy.
Early voting
Early voting is one of the great stories of this election. Even before polling stations formally opened today, nearly 100 million votes had been cast. This breaks all records. You may think that that will help speed up the results, but in reality it is the opposite.
All votes are the same regardless of whether they were posted or cast in person, but how individual states process them varies. Some start counting them before voting day and will be able to quickly get an overall result. However, others, including the key state of Pennsylvania, will only count the flood of votes by mail tonight, so it could take days for a final result.
The polls, don’t even bother
Biden has been winning the national polls throughout the campaign, but to be honest at this stage, it’s not worth wasting your time analyzing them. The real business is about to unfold, so study your key states.
The oscillating states of the ‘senior pitcher’
No amount of caffeine will be enough to help you stick through it all, so it’s best to prioritize a few states where the ‘senior release’ has occurred in recent weeks.
Florida: Hillary Clinton thought she did it last time, but Trump won big in some of the urban areas. If Biden can deliver him here, then things are looking good for the Democrat. The candidate who takes Florida almost always takes the White House.
Ohio: No Republican has won the presidency without the support of Ohio. Trump won easily here in 2016, but Biden has largely focused on the state of the ‘buttons’ and the result is too close.
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin: All three went against conventional wisdom and turned to Trump in 2016. Losing any of them will make the path back to power very difficult for the businessman.
Texas: The state of Lonestar has gone Republican in the last 10 elections, but this time it’s tough. If Trump loses, Democrats can start counting their chickens.
Staying up late, until what time?
Midnight: Voting ends in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, and Vermont, so the results will begin to flow soon after. Take early predictions from news stations with a pinch of salt, as the massive early voting could initially skew things in Biden’s favor.
12.30am: Polls close in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia.
1 a.m. – If you can’t stay up all night, this might be the big time to aim for. A Florida result will arrive sometime after 1 am. Things will also start to move in Pennsylvania, but as mentioned above, the early voting situation could create what is called a ‘red mirage’ so it appears that Trump is winning easily only to be overturned later. Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington DC are also closed now.
2 am: Voting ends in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The winner takes it all…
The US electoral system is literally an ocean from our PR-STV. The popular vote means nothing, as Hillary Clinton learned. Each state obtains a number of votes from the electoral college based on its population. All but two states have a “winner takes all” rule, whereby the candidate who wins the most votes receives all the votes from the state electoral college.
For example, Alaska scores only three compared to California’s 55. Other notables: Texas (30), Florida (29), Ohio (18), Michigan (16) and Wisconsin (10).
There are 538 votes in the polling stations at stake, that is, the first 270 victories.
Where will Trump and Biden be tonight and one of them will declare victory?
It is difficult to say. Four years ago, it was around 3 a.m. when Donald Trump took to a stage in New York to claim victory. Tonight he will be at the White House and possibly attend an event at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
Joe Biden will be in Delaware and is likely heading into the country from the Chase Center, the same place where he formally accepted his party’s nomination in August.
The horrible consequences: confusion, courts and possible violence
Trump has been casting doubt on the electoral system for some time. On Monday, Twitter flagged a tweet in which the headline claimed that a recent Supreme Court decision would lead to voter fraud as misinformation. The court said election officials can count ballots that arrive up to three days after the vote. Evidence suggests that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail, so this could become a major point of debate in the next few hours and possibly end up in court.
The United States police are preparing for a night of rioting. Trump has already indicated that he could take legal action over the voting system if he loses. He described the Supreme Court decision as “VERY dangerous.” “It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done! “Said the president.
Retailers in the US are increasing security sooner than it likely protects. Household names like Tiffany, CVS, Target and Macy’s are among the chains that are covering some of their store windows in preparation.
How to see how it all unfolds
Here at Independent.ie, Ryan Nugent will be running a live blog all night long. There will also be an ongoing review of top writers, including Fionnán Sheahan.
RTÉ television will broadcast a special program starting at 11:15 pm with former Washington correspondent Caitríona Perry at the hotseat.
Virgin Media has a special edition of The Tonight Show at 10.15pm, and Ireland AM will air at 7am tomorrow with nightly updates.
BBC News has evening programming with Katty Kay, Andrew Neil and Emily Maitlis.
ITV coverage begins at 11pm with Tom Bradby.
Sky News has cleared its schedule starting at 10 pm for special coverage.
Short lines and calm prevail at the American polls at the start of Election Day
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