Trump ahead with 120 electoral votes, Harris at 99 (ld)

Former US President Donald Trump has secured 120 electoral college votes, and Vice President Kamala Harris has 99, as polling closed in states at 9 p.m. Eastern time, according to projections by the Associated Press.

The projections are from predictably partisan states that have historically voted either Democratic or Republican. They did not include any of the seven battleground states, and there were no surprises from previous outcomes.

Trump was projected to win Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana.

Harris was projected to take Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York.

The winner needs to secure 270 out of the 538 electoral college votes.

The contest is on in the battleground states of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

These projections were announced shortly after the close of polling in some states, including Georgia, one of the seven battleground states that will determine the outcome of the 2024 race for president.

These early projections are based on the history of polling in the state and are drawn from early trends that are not expected to change much through the night or later, once the full count of the votes is completed.

More than 82 million American voters had already cast their ballots before Tuesday, Election Day, either through in-person voting at early voting stations or via postal ballots. This was more than 51 percent of the total 158 million votes cast in 2020, at the height of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

Harris and Trump ended their campaigns with rallies in Pennsylvania and Michigan, respectively, both battleground states. There are a total of seven battleground states that will determine the 2024 White House race. Unlike others, these states are neither solidly Democratic nor Republican and can swing between the two, which is why they are also called “swing states.”