At this point, the polls will be closing Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginiabut these are not swing states, so the results will be predictable.

But the vote will also close in the first decisive state of the night, Georgia. The victory of either candidate could give a strong indication of where the elections could go.

Joe Biden narrowly won Georgia last time. He also became the subject of false claims by Trump, accused of criminally conspiring to overturn his 2020 defeat.

The candidate with more votes than anyone else in Georgia will get 16 crucial votes out of 538 under the electoral college system.

Both Harris and Trump want to win a majority of 270 electoral college votes to win the White House. That matters more than the “popular vote” or the national support they receive.

Shortly after, at 7:30 p.m. EST (00:30 GMT), polls close in three more states, including North Carolina. Aside from the presidential race, there has been strong interest in the state’s gubernatorial race pitting state Attorney General Josh Stein against Trump-backed candidate Mark Robinson, whose campaign has been marred by scandals.

The polls close at the same time in Ohiowhere Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, is a senator. Meanwhile, the two campaigns will meet at their headquarters for the night, which we know will be in West Palm Beach, Floridain the case of Trump.

At this point, some states could begin to be “called out” by the American media. They use models to project, or name, how a state has voted, even before the full vote count has been completed.

This happens when they believe that a candidate has gained an advantage that their opponent cannot overcome. In some hotly contested swing states, this could take a long time.

The models used by media outlets are based on a variety of data, such as exit polls and actual votes counted by officials. The BBC obtains this data from a company called Edison Research.