US election: Initial results coming in but outcome still chancy

The first results are coming in for the US presidential election with Republican leader Donald Trump projected to notch up wins in Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida and Arkansas and vice-president Kamala Harris set to emerge victorious in Vermont, Delaware and New Jersey.

As per latest trends, Harris is winning 27 electoral college votes and Trump 105. A minimum of 270 electoral college votes are required to win the race.

Trump is also projected to win Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Harris is racing to emerge victorious in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Massachusetts.

Interestingly, Harris is ahead with 68.4 per cent of the votes counted in the battleground state of Pennsylvania with Trump trailing at 30.7 per cent.

Pennsylvania is considered the pivotal state to win the mega race.

As per the latest data, however, Trump is cruising ahead in another battleground state, that of Georgia.

Though the projections are emerging from many of the 50 states, what everyone is eagerly waiting for is the results in the seven battleground states that will effectively determine who becomes the next American president.

While projections are coming in from several states, voting is still on in at least three states.

The US has 50 states and most of them vote for the same party in every election, except the swing states.

Generally, there is not much surprise over the candidates picking up victories in states other than the pivotal battleground ones.

Overall a total of 538 electoral college votes are up for grabs. A candidate with 270 or more electoral votes is declared winner in the election.

If both candidates register victory in all the states that historically support the same party, then it will leave Harris 44 electoral college votes short of victory and Trump 51 votes short.

In that situation, the 93 votes of the swing states will decide who the next American president will be.

The swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, known as part of the Rust Belt, have traditionally been strongholds of the Democratic Party. However, Trump won all three of them in 2016. Bu then the states returned to the Democratic fold in the 2020 election.

Political experts said Harris will be the next US president if she wins the Rust Belt swing states.

The four swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina are called the Sun Belt, with a total electoral college vote of 49.

The Republicans have a stronger support base in the Sun Belt states. Even if Trump wins all the four Sun Belt states, however, he will still require to win one more in Rust Belt.

If Harris wins the race, she will make history by becoming the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to become the US president.