The road to the 45th US presidential election is nearly over. After months of campaigning and multiple televised debates, it’s time for the US public to cast their vote and decide the fate of the entire world as they opt to either bring Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton to power.
Over on this side of the Atlantic, the general consensus is that nobody wants Donald Trump to win. That said, Hillary is also seen as a less-than-ideal candidate too. Oh Barack Obama, why can’t the American legal system just allow you to run again for a third term?
Historically US presidential election results have been relatively clear-cut early on, meaning a winner is generally announced by the end of the day’s counting. However, in situations where things have been a little more close, the ballot process could actually stretch on for days and days. Obviously, that makes it a little trickier to follow or watch online but here’s an hour-by-hour rundown of what to expect and how to follow it live.
Watch the US presidential election live in the UK here
You can watch the US presidential election live in the UK on TV over on Sky News from 10pm GMT. ITV 1 then begins its live US election coverage from 10.40pm and BBC 1 starts its news coverage of the global event from 11.15pm.
How to watch the US presidential election online in the UK
The easiest, and arguably most interesting, way to follow the US election results coverage online is actually via Twitter. That may surprise you but, following on from the successful live video coverage that Bloomberg produced for the US presidential debates, Buzzfeed has teamed up with Twitter to cover the big night.
Expect plenty of astute political observation and chat, in a clear format that won’t try to bog you down with typically stuffy stereotypes of how to cover election nights. You can watch it over on Twitter Moments or at Twitter’s dedicated elections site.
YouTube
As you can expect, many of the major US networks will be streaming live coverage of the election via their YouTube channels. Expect to see streams from NBC News, PBS, MTV News and Bloomberg.
How to follow the US presidential election in the UK
If you don’t fancy watching the events unfold minute-by-minute, there’s a whole host of alternative ways to keep your eye on the election through the night.
NBC News has a snazzy live results counter with state-by-state breakdown, however The Guardian’s approach takes the biscuit.
Using mobile alerts, The Guardian delivers the latest election results direct to your phone’s lock screen and notifications so you don’t even have to open an app or web browser, nor search for the information you want to know. The notification breaks the results down to electoral votes won and states called, along with which swing states have been called and the likelihood that one candidate is going to win over the other. You can find out all about The Guardian service and how to sign up over on its site.
How to watch the US presidential election: Hour-by-hour breakdown of what to expect
You’ll likely not be awake to see polls close at 11pm EST (4am GMT) when a winner is, generally, declared. So, you might want to set yourself an alarm to find out who the winner is.
If you’re the sort who’d rather dip in and out and find out what’s going on throughout the night, here’s all the key times you need to know:
12am GMT (7pm EST)
East Coast polling stations shut and counting starts
12.30am GMT (7.30pm EST)
Polls close in North Carolina and Ohio
1am GMT (8pm EST)
Results from Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut and the District of Columbia come in.
Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Illinois and Florida should also join this list.
1.30am GMT (8.30pm EST)
Arkansas results come in
2am GMT (9pm EST)
Early projections from New York should arrive with results of Colorado and Michigan coming in.
Polls close in Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming and Nebraska.
New Mexico and Wisconsin also push their results forward.
3am GMT (10pm EST)
Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Iowa and Montana votes start to come though.
4am GMT (11pm EST)
California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Hawaii polls close and results come though.
45th US president could be declared.
6am GMT (1am EST)
Alaska polls close – although this doesn’t really matter all that much.
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