How to watch 2024 election results

We’ve arrived.

The final polls are flooding in, and the candidates have raced to get their final messages out to voters.

More than 80 million Americans have already cast ballots, and Election Day is their last chance to weigh in on who will be the next president.

Here’s how PBS News will cover election night and what could be a slow march to final results.

How we’re covering election night

Watch PBS News’ special coverage of Election 2024 in the player above.

PBS News will have special coverage around the clock and across platforms, starting election morning.

There’s a live fact check from PolitiFact, who will focus on voting, any issues or irregularities, the closing of the polls, and fact checks and stories on claims about the election results.

Live blog: Election 2024 fact checks

At noon, live streaming coverage begins, highlighting our election stories from throughout the year. Watch for live updates from our correspondents in the field, starting at 3 p.m. EST.

We’ll run live updates on our website, starting at 5:30 p.m. EST. Think of it as your cheat sheet to the biggest developments, race calls, latest insights and updates from our team of correspondents in the field.

The News Hour broadcast will begin at 6 p.m. EST.

Starting at 7, anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett will host on-air special analysis with a group of panelists and special guests, including:

When polls close, correspondent Lisa Desjardins will be at our live results wall, breaking down results for president, Senate, House and ballot initiatives with real-time graphics.

We’ll stream significant speeches from candidates and any statements from the presidential campaigns.

Results in real time

You can keep track of results with our interactive live results, which you can sort by state or overall balance of power. See where the race to 270 electoral votes stands with our Electoral College calculator.

It’s worth noting here that it took days to determine the winner of the 2020 election. It’s possible and not unusual or abnormal that counting ballots will extend beyond election night. This is also true for down-ballot races, including those that will determine control of the House.

The morning after the election, digital video producer Deema Zein will host a live chat with Desjardins starting at 11 a.m. EST, highlighting major takeaways and taking viewer questions.

We’ll run our stream and live results until winners are called.

Check your local listings to find the PBS station near you, or watch online here.
You can also follow the PBS News’ coverage on YouTube, X, Facebook and TikTok, and see highlights on our Instagram.

What Harris and Trump have promised?

Watch the video in the player above.

Catch-up fast on where Harris and Trump stand on key issues. We compare how the two candidates differ on:

We’d like to hear from you!

Plan on voting or already voted? Send us photos of you and your sticker by using this form. And tell us why voting is important to you. We’ll share a few of the responses in our Election Day newsletter.

Where the candidates stand

Polls have become a staple of election coverage. Those released in the waning hours of presidential elections often receive outsized attention, including a Des Moines Register poll over the weekend that showed Harris with a 3-point lead over Trump in Iowa, and a trio of Marist polls at the end of last week that found Harris leading Trump in the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Our own final election poll with NPR and Marist showed Harris up 4 points, and a significant narrowing of the gender gap.

It’s important to remember that polls are a snapshot of how Americans feel at a moment in time, a high-level read on issues or candidates.

Lee Miringoff, who directs the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, offers a word of caution to poll-obsessed political observers.

“If you want to know who is going to win and who is going to carry every state, that’s not what this is going to tell you. It just tells you that the advantage is hers going in,” Miringoff said. “The polls have been continuing to monitor just how polarized the nation is.”

Here’s a reminder of how our polling comes together, and why the margin of error matters.

What to expect

In short, the 2024 presidential race has zigged and zagged in a matter of months.

Trump survived an initial assassination attempt. Joe Biden dropped out after a disastrous debate performance. Kamala Harris stepped in. There was another apparent assassination plot on Trump’s life.

While pursuing a second term in the White House, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes. If elected, he’ll also be the first person convicted of felonies to assume the Oval Office.

Harris made history securing the Democratic nomination. If Harris wins November’s election, she’ll also be the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent elected president. Harris would also join a small club of sitting vice presidents who were elected president. Only one sitting vice president – George H.W. Bush in 1988 – has become president since 1836.

The battle for control of Congress

Echoing the dead-heat nature of the presidential race, control for both chambers of Congress could come down to the margins. A smattering of contests across the country will decide which party controls each chamber.

When will we know the winner?

Watch the segment in the player above.

As polls close and vote counting begins, some election outcomes may not be known by the end of election night.

Answering the simple question of “Who won?” takes time. Results from Florida will be among the first to be released election night, while ballots in California take longer to tabulate, in part because its voters heavily rely on mail-in ballots.

This is not unusual, and is a reflection of a safe and secure electoral process. (Though Trump has pushed falsehoods about noncitizens voting in elections, this is a rare occurrence and illegal.)

PBS News and other outlets rely on the Associated Press, which keeps track of thousands of competitive races, to call the winners. We took a close look at how AP’s Decision Desk calls races.