It's been well over a year since Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton each announced they were running for president. Now, we're finally in the campaign's final hours.

When are we likely to know a result?

Wednesday, 3pm AEDT (11pm ET)
This will be the first opportunity for the election to be 'called' by a candidate or by a US television network
The US election is on November 8, American time, but in Australia we will be seeing most of the action on Wednesday, November 9.

Otherwise, here are the key times you need to know and the states you need to watch as we await a winner:

Tuesday, 4pm AEDT

The first voting will begin in the town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, which has a population of 12.

They have a pretty cool tradition of voting at midnight, which means its results are known before the rest of the country.

Tuesday, 10pm AEDT

Polls open in some states on the east coast.

Depending on the state, polling booths will open between 6am or 7am local time and close between 7pm or 8pm. (If you're in line when polls close, you still get to vote.)

Fun fact: there are six different time zones across the United States, but just to make things nice and complex there are 13 states operating with split time zones.

The point is, most voting will take place overnight Tuesday, Australian time.

Wednesday, 11am AEDT

Polling stations will start to close in eastern states.

Once the polls have closed, there will be a projection for each state based on opinion polls taken throughout the day. They are a good indication of the results but not always correct.

The key results to watch out for at this time are from swing states Florida, New Hampshire and Virginia.

Wednesday, 11:30am AEDT

Polls close in two more battleground states — North Carolina and Ohio. Mr Trump's best chance at victory is seen as more or less requiring a win from either Ohio or Florida, if not both.


In other words, this is when we might get an indication of how well Mr Trump is faring.

Wednesday, 12pm AEDT

Polls close in 18 states, the most important being Pennsylvania.

This is also when the final polls close in Florida (it's one of the states with a split time zone), so we might not get those projections until this time.

Wednesday, 1pm AEDT

Polls close in 10 states, including Wisconsin and swing state Colorado.

While Mrs Clinton is considered the favourite to win Wisconsin, a Trump upset there would point to a tight race across the board.

The final polls close at this time in Texas which has been solidly Republican, but which Democrats were hoping an increased migrant turnout might turn in their favour. If that happens, it would be a huge result.

Wednesday, 2pm AEDT

Voting ends in swing states Nevada and Iowa and three others seen as safe Republican territory.

If Mr Trump doesn't win Iowa, he's seen as being pretty much done. Although by this time, we should have a decent idea of how the night has played out.

Wednesday, 3pm AEDT

Voting closes in states on the west coast, including California, which is very much safe ground for Mrs Clinton.

Polls close in Alaska at 5pm AEDT, but it is a small state so it is unlikely to affect the outcome.

When will the winner be named?

The close of the polls on the west coast (i.e. 3pm AEDT) will be the first opportunity for the election to be "called". The US television networks and cable channels nowadays generally agree to wait until this time to declare a winner so as not to affect voting turnout in those states.

The magic number is 270 — that's the number needed for a majority in the electoral college, where each state (plus Washington DC) is awarded a certain number of electoral college votes based roughly on size and population.

The first candidate to reach 270 wins, and swing states dictate the outcome.

Like in Australia, the losing candidate will usually call the winner to concede defeat once that number has been reached.

Where will Clinton and Trump be?

READ IT ALL HERE http://kleeqers.com/forum/politics/2751-us-election-result-what-time-will-we-know-who-the-winner-is