EXPLAINED | What to Watch as Election Day Approaches in the United States

US Elections 2024 : Election Day is nearly upon us. In a matter of hours, final votes in 2024 presidential election will be cast.

In a deeply divided nation, election is a true toss-up between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump .

We know re are seven battleground states that will decide outcome, barring a major surprise. But major questions persist about timing of results, makeup of electorate, influx of misinformation — even possibility of political violence. At same time, both sides are prepared for a protracted legal battle that could complicate things furr.

Here's what to watch on eve of Election Day 2024:

History will be me eir way

Given all twists and turns in recent months, it's easy to overlook historical significance of this election.

Harris would become first female president in United States' 248-year history. She would also be first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold office. Harris and her campaign have largely played down gender and race fearing that y might alienate some supporters. But significance of a Harris win would not be lost on historians.

A Trump victory would represent a different kind of historical accomplishment. He would become first person convicted of a felony elected to U.S. presidency, having been convicted of 34 felony counts in a New York hush-money case little more than five months ago.

Trump, who is still facing felony charges in at least two separate criminal cases, argued that he is victim of a politicized justice system. And tens of millions of voters apparently believe him — or y're willing to overlook his extraordinary legal baggage.

How long will it take to know winner?

Election Day in United States is now often considered election week as each state follows its own rules and practices for counting ballots — not to mention legal challenges — that can delay results. But truth is, nobody knows how long it will take for winner to be announced this time.

In 2020, Associated Press declared President Joe Biden winner on Saturday afternoon — four days after polls closed. But even n, AP called North Carolina for Trump 10 days after Election Day and Georgia for Biden 16 days later after hand recounts.

Four years earlier, 2016 election was decided just hours after most polls closed. AP declared Trump winner on election night at 2:29 a.m. (it was technically Wednesday morning on East Coast).

This time, both campaigns believe race is extremely close across seven swing states that are expected to decide election, barring a major surprise: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Neva, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

size of map and tightness of race make it hard to predict when a winner could be declared.

Where can I find early clues about how contest might unfold?

Look to two East Coast battleground states, North Carolina and Georgia, where results could come in relatively quickly. That doesn't mean we'll get final results in those states quickly if returns are close, but y are first swing states that might offer a sense of what kind of night we're in for.

To go deeper, look to urban and suburban areas in industrial North and Souast, where Democrats have me gains since 2020.

In North Carolina, Harris’ margins in Wake and Mecklenburg Counties, home to state capital of Raleigh and state’s largest city, Charlotte, respectively, will reveal how much Trump will need to squeeze out of less-populated rural areas he has dominated.

In Pennsylvania, Harris needs heavy turnout in deep blue Philelphia, but she's also looking to boost Democrats’ vantage in arc of suburban counties to north and west of city. She has campaigned aggressively in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, where Biden improved on Clinton’s 2016 winning margins. Philelphia metro area, including four collar counties, accounts for 43 percent of Pennsylvania’s vote.

Elsewhere in Blue Wall, Trump needs to blunt Democratic growth in Michigan's key suburban counties outside of Detroit, especially Oakland County. He faces same challenge in Wisconsin's Waukesha County outside of Milwaukee.

Where are candidates?

Trump will likely spend very early hours of Election Day in Michigan, where he is scheduled to hold a final late-night rally in Grand Rapids as has become his trition.

Republican candidate plans to spend rest of day in Florida, where he is expected to vote in person -- despite previously saying he would vote early. He's scheduled to hold a campaign watch party in Palm Beach Tuesday night.

Harris plans to attend an Election Night party at Howard University in Washington, a historically Black university where she gruated with a degree in economics and political science in 1986 and was an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Aside from Howard, she has no public schedule announced for Election Day.

Harris said Sunday that she h “just filled out” her mail-in ballot and it was “on its way to California.”

Who's left to show up on Election Day?

On eve of Election Day, it's unclear which voters will show up to cast ballots on Tuesday.

More than 77 million people participated in early voting — eir in person or through mail. So many people alrey cast ballots that some officials say polls in states like Georgia might be a “ghost town” on Election Day.

One major reason for surge is that that Trump has generally encouraged his supporters to vote early this time, a reversal from 2020 when he called on Republicans to vote only in-person on Election Day. early vote numbers confirm that millions of Republicans have heeded Trump's call in recent weeks.

key question, however, is wher surge of Republicans who voted early this time will ultimately cannibalize number of Republicans who show up on Tuesday.

re are also shifts on Democratic side. Four years ago, as pandemic lingered, Democrats overwhelmingly cast ir ballots early. But this time around, without public health risk, it's likely that more Democrats will show up in person on Election Day.

That balance on both sides is critical as we try to understand early returns. And it's on campaigns to know which voters y still need to turn out on Tuesday. On that front, Democrats may have an vantage.

Trump's campaign and Republican National Committee have outsourced much of ir get-out--vote operation operation to outside groups, including one funded largely by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk that’s facing new questions about its practices. Harris’ campaign, by contrast, is running a more tritional operation that features more than 2,500 paid staffers and 357 offices in battleground states alone.

Could re be unrest?

Trump has been aggressively promoting baseless claims in recent days questioning integrity of election. He falsely insists that he can lose only if Democrats cheat, even as polls show that show race is a true toss-up.

Trump could again claim victory on election night regardless of results, just as he did in 2020.

Such rhetoric can have serious consequences as nation saw when Trump loyalists stormed Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in one of darkest days in modern American history. And unfortunately, re is still a potential of furr violence this election season.

Republican National Committee will have thousands of “election integrity” poll monitors in place on Tuesday searching for any signs of fraud, which critics fear could le to harassment of voters or election workers. In some key voting places, officials have requested presence of sheriff deputies in dition to bulletproof glass and panic buttons that connect poll managers to a local 911 dispatcher.

At same time, Trump allies note that he has faced two assassination attempts in recent months that raise possibility of furr threats against him. And police in Washington and or cities are preparing for possibility of serious Election Day unrest.

As always, it's worth noting that a bro coalition of top government and industry officials, many of m Republicans, found that 2020 election was “most secure” in American history.”