You might be excited about Election Day, dreading it, or desperate for it to be over.

Regardless, it is here.

But the end of this high-drama presidential campaign on election night may not bring immediate clarity about who has won.

The race itself is unlike any other, pitting former President #donaldtrump , a man who has essentially been running for president for nine years, against Vice President #kamalaHarris , a woman who has been running for about 16 weeks. The contest, which began as a rare rematch between Mr. Trump and President Biden, was reset after a televised debate that ended Mr. Biden’s bid for re-election and paved the way for Ms. Harris’s midsummer ascendance — and it took a violent turn when two would-be assassins made separate attempts on Mr. Trump’s life.

More than 78 million people have already voted. And as we head into the final day of voting, polling suggests that two candidates who could not be more different — who fundamentally disagree on weighty matters of the economy, women’s rights and the very purpose of government — are locked in an excruciatingly tight contest, with all seven battleground states still in play.

who wins. Here’s what to watch as the counting begins.

When will the race actually end?

Polling shows Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump deadlocked in nearly all of the seven swing states. So the first thing we’ll glean from the returns on Tuesday night is not who will win — but just how close the battle is shaping up to be, and how long it might take to determine the winner.

The first battleground state where the polls will close is Georgia, at 7 p.m. Eastern time, followed closely by North Carolina, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. A majority of voters cast ballots early in both states, and those results are expected to be reported early in the night. The vast majority of ballots in both states are likely to be tallied and reported by midnight. They will give us an early sense of whether the night is shaping up to be a battle of inches, or something more decisive. (See a full list of when polls close.)

If Ms. Harris opens up a lead in either or both states, she will have multiple paths to the 270 electoral votes needed to win, and Mr. Trump’s chances of victory will appear to narrow. If Mr. Trump has a lead, or if the states appear to be close, it could all come down to the returns from the three so-called Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

In Pennsylvania, which both campaigns view as a must-win state, polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern time. But because election workers aren’t allowed to start processing mail ballots until Election Day, counting is expected to stretch past Tuesday night. In Michigan, where the last polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern, only about half the ballots were counted by midnight in 2020 and 2022, although recent reforms could speed things up. In Wisconsin, where polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern, counting could stretch late into the night.

Mr. Trump’s best path to the presidency has long been seen as victories in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina. Ms. Harris’s best path is seen as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. If the picture is muddled, we could find ourselves looking west for answers — and that could mean a long wait.

The polls in the two Western swing states, Arizona and Nevada, close at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern, respectively. But both states rely heavily on mail ballots, and the counting could stretch for days.

In recent elections, all the Blue Wall states have typically voted the same way, but it’s not clear that pattern will hold this year.

The battleground states aren’t the only place to look for hints about which way the night is going. There are a few congressional races in faster-counting East Coast states, including the Second and Seventh Districts of Virginia and the First District in North Carolina, where an upset could be a sign of bigger success for whichever party prevails.

Our best advice for Tuesday night, and maybe the days beyond, is to remain patient.

A system under pressure.

In 2020, Mr. Trump falsely declared victory just after 2 a.m. on election night, sowing doubt among his supporters about Mr. Biden’s eventual victory and the elections system itself — and stoking a movement that eventually culminated in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.

In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has reached into that same playbook, inaccurately claiming that voting machines can change people’s votes and wrongly suggesting that the only way Ms. Harris can win is if she cheats.

Another premature declaration of victory could raise the likelihood of post-election discord and create additional strain on a system already bearing the weight of election denial, as pro-Trump activists spread unfounded claims of fraud. Lawyers on both sides are poised to litigate these matters until the bitter end.

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