Here are Wednesday’s updates and key things to know about the U.S. election

When is the U.S. election?
Who is leading in the polls?
Swing states and Electoral College explained
Divided over democracy
Key background on the issues

This story is no longer being updated. For our latest news on the U.S. election, visit tgam.ca/us-election-updates.

What you need to know

Latest updates

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump made some of their final election pitches to voters on Wednesday in North Carolina, a swing state still reeling from hurricane damage that could decide who wins the Nov. 5 election.
At the largest event of Ms. Harris’s campaign, a Tuesday evening rally in Washington billed as her closing argument to voters, Ms. Harris warned that, if returned to the White House, Mr. Trump would use prison sentences and the military to shut down his political opponents.
Urged by some allies to apologize for racist comments made by speakers at his weekend rally, Mr. Trump took the opposite approach on Tuesday, saying it was an “honour to be involved” in such an event and calling the scene a “lovefest.”

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Donald Trump has said during multiple campaign stops that the solution to California’s parched forests and fields lies in Canada, reigniting concerns that the U.S. could press Canada to help solve its mounting water shortages. Exactly what the Republican presidential nominee’s plan entails or how it involves Canada, if at all, remains unclear.
A Colorado experiment in non-partisan electoral maps could point the way to a less polarized future for the U.S. Drafted by an independent commission established in Colorado in 2018, the new district is part of a small but meaningful push to ease partisan divisions in a country riven by dark warnings of looming authoritarianism.
Donald Trump says he loves high tariffs, but hasn’t said whether allies such as Canada would be exempt. U.S. correspondent Adrian Morrow compares what the GOP and Democratic plans could do to our trade relationship.

Commentary

Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden was a display of hubris befitting a wannabe dictator who believes no rules of decency apply to him, Konrad Yakabuski writes.
In the final days of the presidential campaign, Kamala Harris is casting Donald Trump as a “petty tyrant,” out for “unchecked power,” Lawrence Martin writes.
Democratic success often hinges on Black and Latino voters, but this year, defections to the Republicans could be significant, Debra Thompson writes.
A re-elected Trump administration would bring Ukraine’s war effort to a bad end, to the delight of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gary Mason writes.

When is the U.S. election? When do we know results?

Polling hours on Nov. 5 will vary state by state, with the earliest ones opening at 6 a.m. (ET). Polls generally close between 6 to 9 p.m. local time, but governments can ask the courts for extensions. Once the counting of in-person and mail-in ballots starts, it’s anyone’s guess how long it will take to get a result: In 2020, logistical problems, disputes and recounts left the outcome uncertain for days. Until then, Globe readers can get the latest news in their inboxes through the Morning Update newsletter, or subscribe to the U.S. election topic page.

Who is leading in the polls?

Nationally, the main presidential candidates are effectively deadlocked, according to the latest tracking by FiveThirtyEight, a poll-aggregation service owned by the ABC news network. Kamala Harris and the Democrats are slightly ahead in FiveThirtyEight’s national averages, but still within the margin of error. All but a few states (more on those later) are solidly behind either Ms. Harris or Donald Trump and the Republicans.

Where Kamala Harris stands

Ms. Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, must see the Democrats through a turbulent campaign that, until late July, centred on President Joe Biden, who agreed not to run again after a poor debate performance and questions about the 81-year-old’s mental fitness. The party and its donors united quickly behind Ms. Harris, 60, an unprecedented process that, in a country with long election cycles, left her with less time than other candidates to win over the public. While she is already a known quantity to Americans – she ran for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and as Vice-President, handled challenging files from foreign policy to immigration – that also means she must win over constituencies skeptical of that record, such as Arab American voters angry over her support for Israel, and working-class voters unhappy with rising inflation.

Where Donald Trump stands

Since losing the 2020 election, Mr. Trump, 78, has been convicted in a felony fraud case and found liable for sexual abuse, and is still fighting in court against other allegations of serious crimes during his presidency. Through rallies, interviews and the social-media platform he owns, he continues to spread conspiracy theories and threats of retribution against prosecutors and law enforcement. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is, as in 2020, central to his campaign, and promises of mass deportations and border walls still resonate with his die-hard MAGA base in border states.

At Alice Aishanna’s home in Kaktovik, CBS News gives an update on the distant swing state of Georgia. People in remote Alaskan villages like this one cannot always count on a local polling place: In this summer’s primaries, Katovik’s polling station was closed because no one could be found to run it. Lindsey Wasson/AP

Postmaster Angel Akootchook is Kaktovik’s only full-time postal employee. Alaska allows mail-in ballots, but unreliable delivery and language barriers pose problems for Indigenous voters; in past elections, many rural ballots have been disallowed due to missing signatures or mistakes. Lindsey Wasson/AP

Charles Lampe, president of Kaktovik Inupiat Corp. and a city councillor, wants local officials trained to work elections, so no one is disenfranchised again. ‘Every person should be able to have a vote, and it should count, and it should be fair,’ he says. Lindsey Wasson/AP

Map of the swing states, and the Electoral College explained

Swing states – sometimes called purple states, for their split loyalties between Democratic blue and Republican red – can make all the difference in close races such as this one.

Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are purple because they chose Mr. Trump in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020; so is Nevada, whose Democratic wins were close both times. North Carolina may also be in play for Ms. Harris because of shifting demographics and a gubernatorial scandal, among other factors. To see what happens if each of these states swings red or blue, use our interactive tool to explore the different scenarios.

Swing states would matter a lot less if not for the Electoral College that Americans have used since the late 1700s. Nobody wins the presidency simply by getting the most votes nationwide: Instead, those votes determine a list of 538 people called electors, whom the states assign to pick the president. Some states have more electors than others, and different rules for choosing who they are: Some are party officials, but many are regular citizens.

In all but two states, the Democrats or Republicans get electors on a winner-take-all basis. If, for instance, Ms. Harris wins California’s popular vote, she gets all 54 electors. That’s not how it works in Maine and Nebraska, which can pick mixed groups of electors based on congressional and popular votes.

If the college’s vote results in a Harris-Trump tie, the new House of Representatives breaks it via a process that hasn’t been used since 1825. The legislative blocs from each state pick one candidate, and whoever gets 26 or more states wins. “Contingent elections” like these give disproportionate voting power to less populous red states, which are numerous enough that the House would likely pick Mr. Trump.

A Los Angeles County sheriff and his dog demonstrate how they search incoming ballots at the processing centre in Industry, Calif. Last year, officials in California and five other states got suspicious envelopes, including some with fentanyl, part of a rising trend of threats against electoral workers.Mike Blake/Reuters

Divided over democracy

Each candidate is, in their own way, framing this election as a battle for the future of democracy itself. Ms. Harris has called Mr. Trump a “fascist,” pointing to Project 2025 – a think tank’s proposal to stack the public service with GOP loyalists – and warning that, if re-elected, he would seek “unchecked power” and a military loyal only to him. Mr. Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, but has spent months proposing his own purges of U.S. institutions, and casting doubt on the integrity of the voting process. In polls over the past year, a majority of Republicans say they believe his false claims that the 2020 election was illegitimate, and are heeding his baseless warnings of more fraud to come.

Fact checks from The Globe’s Patrick Dell

Trump repeated false election claims in podcast with Joe Rogan

Progress 2028 isn’t tied to Harris campaign, plus claims about missing migrant children and EV spending debunked

Examining ‘grossly exaggerated’ claims about Venezuelan gang activity in a Colorado city

Key background on the issues

With reports from Associated Press, Reuters and Globe staff

Table of contents

What you need to know

Latest updates

Go deeper

Commentary