From Presidential polls to Governor races – all key numbers behind the US Elections 2024 that you need to know

US Elections 2024: As November 5 Election Day draws near in the United States, both Presidential hopefuls – Donald Trump and Kamala Harris – are making last-ditch attempts in the crucial swing states in what is seen as a neck-and-neck fight for the White House.

The voters in the United States will not only elect the President and the Vice President. But the positions in the Senate and the House of Representatives, apart from governors, are also being elected.

Mint takes a look at some important numbers in this election:

As many as 186.5 million US citizens are eligible voters to choose the 47th president of the United States.

435 members for the House of Representatives

The voters in all 50 states of the US will elect members of the House of Representatives. All 435 seats in the House are being elected.

In the United States, each state has an allocated number of members to be sent to the House of Representatives, based on its population.

Six non-voting members of the House of Representatives from the US territories do not have voting rights. The six US territories are – District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands.

The non-voting members, also called delegates, are elected every two years with the rest of the House except Puerto Rico, where the representatives are chosen once in four years

33 US Senate seats

Of the 100 US Senate seats, 33 are being elected this time. One seat will also be decided in a special election. Each state has two seats in the US Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, where the population of the states decides the numbers.

As things stand, there are 49 Republicans, 47 Democrats and four independents in the US Senate. The four independents are– Bernie Sanders from Vermont, Angus King from Maine, Joe Manchin from West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona

The Vice President is the president of the US Senate who presides over Senate sessions and announces Presidential Election results.

Some of the Senate races where the contest is tight include Montana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Texas. Democrats occupy seven of these seats, while Republicans have one as of now.

The 7 Swing States

All states in US are demarcated as either supporting Democrats or Republicans, which makes it easy to anticipate results. These states are also identified as Blue or Red states, more so since 2000. The red represents the Republican Party and the Blue is for the Democratic Party.

But then there are some states where the the vote fluctuates between the Democratic and Republican candidates. These states are known as battleground states, swing states, purple states or toss-up states. For obvious reasons, candidates from both parties put in all-out efforts in these states, more so in the last leg of their campaigns.

States are put in the swing or battleground category when opinion polls show the margin of victory is fewer than 5 percentage points.

The seven battleground states in the US Election 2024 are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

The Electoral College

Voters do not directly elect the President and the Vice President of the United States. In practice, voters in the US actually vote for the electors to represent their state. Once the votes are counted,  the Electoral College - a body of people representing the states of the US –  formally casts votes for the election of the president and vice president.

These electors cast the deciding votes for the president and vice president during a December meeting of the Electoral College. This year, the vote will be held on December 17.

Maine and Nebraska Exceptions

In 48 of the 50 US states, the Presidential candidate who gets the most votes wins all that state’s electors. In two states – Maine and Nebraska – however, the method doesn’t apply

Maine and Nebraska both use an alternative method of distributing their electoral votes, called the Congressional District Method. These two states are the only two in US that diverge from the traditional winner-take-all method of electoral vote allocation.

The Maths

The number of electors in each state equals the number of its members in House of Representatives plus two – the number of US senators from each state.

For example, Florida gets 30 Electoral College votes. The state has 28 representatives in the House and two senators. Similarly, Texas has 40 electoral votes. The state has 38 representatives in the House and two senators.

The Electoral College has 538 electors. The political parties choose the electors before the election. These electors are usually party officials or supporters.

To become president in the US, a candidate has to win a minimum of 270 votes (Electoral College) based on the available results. 

Popular vote doesn’t guarantee victory

So, in the US Election, a candidate who wins the popular vote may not win the White House.

In 2016, for example, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote to Republican Donald Trump. Trump won key swing states that polls had predicted Clinton would win, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Governor Elections

Voters in 11 states and two territories -– Puerto Rico and American Samoa -– will also elect governors in 2024 US Election. The states that elect new governors include Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, West Virginia, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Early Voting

The US also allows early voting, also known as advance polling or pre-poll voting. This is basically a ‘convenience voting process’ by which voters can vote before a scheduled election day, November 5. 

Early voting takes place remotely, such as via postal voting or in person, usually in designated early voting polling stations. The availability and time periods for early voting vary among jurisdictions and types of election.

The idea behind early voting is usually to increase voter participation and to relieve congestion at polling stations on election day.

More than 44 million Americans have cast an early ballot so far this election cycle, according to a NYT report.

Voter Turn Out

The voter turnout in US Presidential elections has been around 60 per cent. The 2020 presidential election recorded 66.6 percent voter turnout, highest in more than a century. In 2016 the turnout was 60.1 per cent while it was 58.6 percent in 2012 and 61.6 percent in 2008 US Elections.