US Presidential Elections: Poll timing, exit polls, how to watch in India and all you need to know

The US presidential election is upon us. While early voting has already began, this is the final day Americans will get to choose who will lead them for the next your years.

The USA being the biggest economy in the world, all eyes across the globe will be on who becomes POTUS next—Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris.

When will polling begin?

While early polling has begun in many American states, the official day of voting is November 5. Polling usually begins from 6:00 am or 8:00 am local time, which will be around 4:30 pm IST in India. Polling will end at around 6:30 am IST on November 6.

Exit polls

Exit polls will gauge voter sentiments and try to predict the winner of the US presidential election. Exit polls will start coming in from 2:30 am IST on November 6.

When will results be announced?

Although results will start pouring in from across the US states, the official winner will not be announced until all votes are counted.

If there is a definite lead for a particular candidate in one state, a winner can be announced soon. But in closely contested places, it might take days or even weeks to reach the total tally of votes received by each candidate.

How to watch US Election results in India?

US elections can be followed across Indian TV and news channels. For updates on the go, follow the Deccan Herald live coverage right here.

Musk, X, and the US polls

False or misleading claims by billionaire Elon Musk about the US election have amassed 2 billion views on social media platform X this year, according to a report by non-profit group Center for Countering Digital Hate.

Government officials and voting rights advocates in the U.S. have warned about election-related misinformation while urging social media platforms, including X, to take steps to remove any false information about the vote.

Musk, who owns X, is a supporter for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Musk's political posts have amassed 17.1 billion views since he endorsed Donald Trump in July – over twice as many views as all the U.S. political campaigning ads that X has recorded in its political ads disclosure dataset in the same period.

Among posts by Musk that were described in the report as false or misleading were those claiming "voter importation" such as "a triple digit" rise over the past four years in undocumented immigrants in battleground states, as well as posts questioning "the integrity of voting."

With Reuters inputs