Across the United States, tens of millions of Americans will cast their ballot today - or have already voted - in a presidential election that pits Democratic vice-president Kamala Harris against Republican ex-president Donald Trump. The election, which will yield the 47th president of the US, is one that both candidates have described as the most important of their lifetimes.

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Polls will be closing between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET, in a vote that is shaping up as a neck-and-neck race to the White House. If you’re taking part in this year’s election, exactly when your ballot will be counted depends on how you voted.

In person on Election Day

If you vote in person on Election Day, one of two things will happen to your ballot, according to Clean Elections, a non-partisan commission founded in 1998 that works to educate voters on electoral systems.

If you are in what’s known as a ‘central count’ voting district, your ballot will, after polls close, be transported to a central location where votes are tabulated. If you vote at a ‘precinct tabulation’ polling location, meanwhile, your ballot will be run through an on-site tabulation machine right away. “The machine immediately tabulates the ballot and saves the vote counts to a removable media device located inside the tabulator,” Clean Elections says.

Early voting or mail-in ballots

If you are one of the more than 75 million people who participated in early voting in the 2024 US election, your vote will either be counted during Election Day or after polls close, depending on which state you live in.

If you voted by mail, the way your ballot is handled again depends on the state. In some places in the US, including the key swing state Pennsylvania, election officials cannot even begin processing mail-in votes - in other words, conducting a pre-count check that it meets basic requirements such as bearing a correct signature - until Election Day. Other states, such as Nevada and New Jersey, allow clerks to begin counting mail-in votes in the period immediately before Election Day. To find out what the rules are for processing and counting mail-in votes in your state, check out this list provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Can I track my vote?

If you voted by mail or are forced to submit a provisional ballot - an avenue open to in-person voters whose vote cannot immediately be accepted, e.g. if they do not produce valid ID - most states make it possible to find out whether your vote was counted. You’ll find a list of states that allow you to track your ballot online on the website of vote.org, a non-profit voter engagement organization.