US Election 2024: Voters Decide Between Harris, Trump in Head-to-Head Race

Abdulwasiu Akintunde, Israel Adeleke, Damilola Philips

Americans are casting their votes in a keenly contested US presidential election, to decide between Democrat, Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump with results showing head-to-head race in early ballot polls.

OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News gathered that the 2024 election polls in the United States are open across the country, including the seven battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are going head-to-head in a race that remains too close to call.

OTN News reports that one of the Candidates, Representing the Republican Party, former President Donald Trump is aiming for a return to office, choosing Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate while on the Democratic side, current Vice President, Kamala Harris stepped in to run after President Joe Biden decided not to seek reelection. 

Harris selected Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, as her vice-presidential partner.

Alongside the major party candidates, independent candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously joined the race before withdrawing in August and endorsing Trump.

How the US Election System Works

In the US, the president isn’t chosen by the national popular vote. Instead, the Electoral College system allocates each State a specific number of votes based on its population and congressional representation. 

A total of 538 electoral votes are available across the 50 States, with 270 required to win the presidency.

Most States follow a winner-takes-all rule, where the candidate with the most votes in a state receives all its electoral votes. However, Maine and Nebraska split their votes by congressional district, allowing for a possible division based on regional results.

The Electoral College system has occasionally led to scenarios where a candidate can win the presidency without the popular vote, as seen in 2016 when Trump was elected despite Hillary Clinton receiving more overall votes. This has occurred five times in the history of the United States. 

Key Battleground States

Some States, known as “battleground” or “swing” States, are unpredictable in their voting patterns, making them the focus of intense campaigning by both candidates. 

OTN NAIJA gathered from monitored reports from CBN News and other International media sources that some major states considered as the key battlegrounds in 2024, include, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where either candidate could potentially win and tilt the election outcome.

In rare cases, Electoral College members, or “electors,” may vote contrary to their State’s choice, known as “faithless electors.” 

In the unlikely event of a 269-269 tie, the election would be decided by a contingent vote in the House of Representatives on January 6, 2025. 

If this process occurs, each State’s House delegation casts one vote to determine the president, and the Senate selects the vice president. 

However, this scenario could lead to a split administration, with the president and vice president representing different parties.

According to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, almost 85 million voters have voted in early ballots as at the time of filing this report, the voter tracker says just over 46 million people have voted in person while more than 38 million mail-in ballots have been cast.

OTN News further gathered that as Trump, who arrived to vote in Palm Beach earlier on Tuesday morning, wearing a red cap that has “Make America Great Again” written on it, repeated his previous criticism of electronic voting machines, arguing that they were less secure than paper ballots and would likely delay the announcement of election results. he was quoted to have repeated his talking points about the pace of counting ballots in the US, saying that in France, they finished counting at 10 pm.

However, many stakeholders in the US Elections have described Trump's comment as misleading, noting that the comparison of elections in the US with France because the 2022 election in France was a single contest, whereas ballots in the US are often several pages long and include federal, state and local contests.

According to them, "it’s misleading to compare BB misleading to compare elections in the US and France because the 2022 election in France was a single contest, whereas ballots in the US are often several pages long and include federal, state and local contests."

OTN News also reports that the U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has stated that he would be willing to concede defeat following Tuesday’s election, provided it is “a fair election."

Trump who said this to reporters at a voting facility in West Palm Beach, reiterated concerns over the use of electronic voting machines.

He said “If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I would be the first one to acknowledge it… So far I think it’s been fair,” Trump, repeating a caveat that he has used many times on the campaign trail, told reporters after voting in Florida.

He said “They spend all this money on machines… If they would use paper ballots, voter ID, proof of citizenship, and one-day voting, it would all be over by 10 o’clock in the evening. It’s crazy."

He added: “Do you know that paper is more sophisticated now than computers? If it’s watermarked paper you cannot… It’s unbelievable what happens with it. There’s nothing you can do to cheat.”

However, When asked for about concerns over potential unrest following the election and whether he would encourage his supporters to remain peaceful, he dismissed the question.

He said “I don’t have to tell them that, that there’ll be no violence. Of course there’ll be no violence. My supporters are not violent people."

Donald Trump however expressed that he feels “very confident” about regaining the White House.

“I feel very confident,” Trump told reporters at a voting facility in West Palm Beach, adding he believes he “ran a great campaign” against his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.