US election on knife edge in early vote results

Washington: Early vote results show the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to become the next president is too close to call.

As expected, Trump has won his home state of Florida and other conservative strongholds across the map, while Kamala Harris is sweeping liberal bastions on the east coast, the BBC’s US partner, CBS, is projecting.

But there is there is no clear leader in the seven swing states that will decide who ultimately wins the White House. Exit polls suggest voters rated the state of democracy and the economy as their most important issues.

Whichever way it goes the result will be historic – either giving America its first woman president or marking a seismic political comeback for Trump.

A high turnout has been predicted, but the outcome may not be known for several days if the results are as close as polls have indicated.

Whoever wins the White House may have their hands tied by Congress, which is also up for grabs in Tuesday’s vote.

Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate, while Republicans narrowly control the House of Representatives.

Republicans took a step towards winning control of the Senate on Tuesday night by wresting a seat in West Virginia from the Democrats.

But neither party seemed to have an advantage in the House.

Polls have closed in Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania – three of the seven swing states expected to determine the outcome. The others are Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that by new state law, early votes in the Peach State are required to be publicly reported one hour after polls close.

“You’ll get a lot of results really quick,” he said.

Around 86 million voters cast their ballots early amid one of the most turbulent campaigns in recent American history.

Vice-President Harris, 60, only became the Democratic Party candidate in July, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race under pressure from within the party.

Trump, 78, was the target of two assassination plots – narrowly avoiding a sniper’s bullet in Pennsylvania.

The former president said he felt “very confident” as he voted earlier in the day near his home in Palm Beach, Florida, with his wife, Melania.