A simple guide to the US election 2024

From the primaries to the Electoral College, here’s how to make sense of the 2024 US election.

Election Day in the United States is less than a week away, so here’s what you need to know about how the 2024 presidential vote works.

In the US, citizens must meet some very basic eligibility criteria in order to vote. They must be:

Voter eligibility can vary from state to state, particularly when it comes to criminal convictions. For example, individuals who have a criminal record may face restrictions in certain states, including losing the right to vote permanently.

There are approximately 160 million registered voters, but not all of them will vote. In the 2020 election, the turnout was around 66 percent, the highest it has been for more than a century.

US politics is dominated by two parties, the broadly centre-left and liberal Democrats and the right-wing and conservative Republicans; potential candidates emerge from either party to vie for the presidential nomination. To select their nominee, the Democrats and Republicans hold primary elections or caucuses in each state, which culminates in the victor accepting the nomination at either the Republican or Democratic National Conventions. This cycle now pits Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris against former Republican President Donald Trump.