The day is finally here, Election Day 2024. Along with this date comes confusing and conflicting information. To help ease the strain, the KOAL Newsroom will be providing live updates and analysis of both the 2024 presidential election and the various state and local elections.
November 5, 2024 5:25 p.m.
Polls have closed in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida giving us the first early look at the electorate and our first swing state of the evening Georgia. In 2020 Joe Biden won the state by a razor-thin margin, setting up a highly contested showdown between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris. Early indicators show that the state is skewing in favor of Trump.
As of the time of writing here is how the electoral map stands:
Early on, Trump leads Harris 19-3.
November 5, 2024 6:09 p.m.
Polls have now closed in West Virginia, Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, D.C. and battleground states North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Georgia still has not been called, but poll analysis shows that Harris is over-performing in the key counties within the state she needs to win.
West Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Mississippi have been called in favor of Trump, increasing his electoral advantage to 25-35. Trump also holds leads in Florida, Ohio, South Carolina and Georgia. But, Harris holds an early lead in North Carolina, viewed by both the Harris and Trump campaigns as a key state to win early.
Polls have closed now in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and battleground states Arizona, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Arkansas, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Louisiana and Wyoming have been called for Trump, but Harris has received New York in addition to the trio of Delaware, New Jersey and Illinois.
One interesting election result was Amendment Four in Florida, which would guarantee the right to abortion for Women in the state was defeated, failing to meet the 60% threshold it needed to pass, garnering only 57%.
Looking at encouraging signs from both campaigns, for Harris, party officials and campaign officials are liking what they see in the blue wall region, especially when it comes to college-age voters. Officials say they are seeing a mass turnout not only to vote but to campaign for Harris.
For Trump, the encouraging sign comes from Michigan, where Trump is polling around 20% with African American Males, a group which Trump was heavily disadvantaged by during the 2020 election.
Ohio has been called for Trump while Harris has not acquired any new states since our last update.
In Utah, results could be delayed until 9 p.m. due to long voting lines across the state and instructions from Lieutenant Gov. Deidre Henderson who has instructed County Clerks to not release results until every Utahn in line has voted. In a post shared on X, formerly Twitter, Henderson stated,” 7:30 update: Gonna be a long night, folks.”
Polls have now closed in Idaho, Montana, Utah, Oregon, and battleground state Nevada. For Utah, results will not be released until all voters in line have had a chance to vote. This becomes complicated due to the fact Utah County struggled with printers, polling locations at Highland, Pleasant Grove, Payson and Orem all experienced problems with old printers struggling to print ballots due to low toner. Despite this, Utah and its six electoral votes have been called for Trump.
Trump is the only candidate who has had races called for him, in addition to Utah he also took Missouri and its 10 electoral votes, as well as Montana raising his advantage to 198-99 over Harris.
Since our last update, Harris has had both Washington D.C. and Colorado called in her favor. Trump on the other hand had Kansas and Iowa called in his favor.
One thing to keep in mind as we hit the midway point of this election night is the red mirage and the blueshift. This is a phenomenon where early voting results will typically sway in favor of the Republican Party, as early counts are typically the in-person results. You may see a blueshift in these results as absentee and mail-in ballots begin to be counted by election workers.
In terms of demographics, Harris has seen a major improvement among white senior citizen voters, while Trump has seen increases among Latino voters.
November 5, 2024 9:05 p.m.
Polls have now closed in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Harris has had, Nebraska’s second district, California and Washington called in her favor. For Trump, the only state he has won since the last update is Idaho.
Looking again to the ballot issue of abortion, after a measure in Florida fell short of the voter threshold to enshrine abortion within the state’s constitution, Outlets have called the election for a similar measure in Arizona, enshrining it in the state’s constitution.
For Utah’s election results, Lt. Gov. Henderson provided an update on X, sharing that results for the state are expected now at 10 p.m.
The first major battleground state has been called, and it is Donald Trump who comes away with North Carolina and its 16 electoral votes. Trump previously won this state in 2020.Harris Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff in a memo that the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was now the Democrat’s “clearest path” to victory. With the loss of North Carolina, Harris’ path to 270 narrows. Media outlets are also reporting that it is now a “blue wall or bust” for Harris in this election, namely Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes.
Harris has secured votes however on the West Coast, coming away with Oregon and its eight electoral votes.
One interesting non-presidential election statistic to watch is currently according to polling data, the Democratic Party has a 58% chance to flip the U.S. House of Representatives, while the Republicans have flipped the Senate.
In State election news, results have finally started to come in, but are still being reported by nine separate counties. We will update those as they become finalized.
No new states have been called for either candidate.
November 5, 2024 10:39 p.m.
In state elections, only Grand and Sevier Counties remain to report their votes. In the national election however, the Trump campaign is putting the final nails in the coffin of this race, winning Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes.
We will continue our election coverage tomorrow morning with more looks into local candidates and more than likely the declaration of the 2024 President-Elect.
Trump leads Harris 267-213.
November 6, 2024, 10:30 a.m.
This will be our final update. Donald Trump has secured Wisconsin, pushing him to 277 electoral votes, well over the threshold and making him America’s President-elect. Many theories have started circulating as to why Harris’ campaign went so wrong. I think it was a combination of Harris stating that she wouldn’t do anything differently than an already unpopular president, and too many cooks in the kitchen. What I mean by that is it’s hard to build a consistent message and a public image while you have three or four other prominent democratic figures campaigning in your stead in swing states.
Trump kept his rally circle small, with the two main players sticking to Trump and JD Vance, allowing him to be the public face of the campaign.
Donald Trump wins the Electoral College 277-213.
State and local results can be found by following this link.
Signing off for the KOAL Newsroom, I’m Aidan Mortensen