Presidential election results 2016: What time, how to watch and live stream online
The 2016 race that began 595 days ago and involved 22 major candidates is expected to end Tuesday as millions of voters head to the polls across the U.S. to cast their ballots for president, vice president, their representatives in Congress and other elected officials.
On Monday, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state and former first lady, held a small 4-percentage-point lead over GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, according to a CBS News poll measuring the state of the race before the polls opened. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, is Clinton’s vice presidential nominee and Republican Gov. Mike Pence is Trump’s running mate.
Check out where the two major candidates stand on major policy issues like guns, education, tax reform, the military, the economy and much more.
While deadlines to register have passed in most states, 13 states and Washington, D.C. offer same-day registration, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Millions of voters have also already cast ballots in 36 states and D.C. where early voting is offered.
Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are two independent candidates who will appear on some or all ballots. Evan McMullin is another independent candidate who could perform well in his home state of Utah.
In order to win the presidency, a candidate must win 270 electoral votes -- a majority of the 538 electors. It’s possible for a candidate to win the national popular vote but lose the Electoral College, which is what happened in the 2000 presidential election. Electors are slated to cast their votes in mid-December, and the final tally won’t be official until Congress counts them on Jan. 6.
CBS News will be keeping an eye on 13 battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. As of Sunday, CBS said the four following states, totaling 73 electoral votes, were tossups: Arizona, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. Clinton and Trump spent most of the last leg of their campaigns in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Out of the 34 Senate seats at stake, CBS News is monitoring eight competitive races: Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Democrats would need to win at least five seats to win back the majority. Out of the 435 House races, CBS News is monitoring 47 of them.
The 2016 White House race comes to an end after a nasty, intensive general election. The last few weeks of the campaign have been consumed by the FBI’s renewed investigation into Clinton’s use of private email servers when she led the State Department, which has turned up nothing new, dumps of John Podesta’s emails from WikiLeaks and allegations of sexual assault from a number of women against Trump. The allegations sparked a revolt against Trump from a number of Republicans, including some who withdrew their endorsements. Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, wound up voting for Trump, but told his GOP colleagues on a conference call he would no longer campaign for or defend Trump.
Last month, Clinton and Trump faced off at three presidential debates. At the final one,Trump refused to commit to accepting the election results if he loses. At a rally the day after, he said he would accept the results, “If I win.
In early October, The New York Times reported that Trump declared a $916 million loss on his income tax returns in 1995, which would have enabled him to avoid paying any federal income taxes for “up to 18 years.” Trump is the first major presidential candidate since Richard Nixon to refuse to release his tax returns, claiming that he can’t while he’s under audit by the IRS.
Besides 12 governorships that are at stake in the election, a number of states will also offer questions or initiatives on their ballots that could allow voters to enact measures into law. Some of the major issues on states’ ballots cover gun control, the death penalty, medical and/or recreational marijuana and the minimum wage, among others.
As of Oct. 19, the amount raised for the federal election has exceeded $6.9 billion. As of that date, Clinton’s campaign had raised more than $497 million and Trump had raised more than $247 million.
CBS News will deliver a full day and night of up-to-the-minute original report on TV, live-streaming news service CBSN and all CBS News platforms on Tuesday. CBSN coverage, starting at 6 a.m. ET, will be led by Josh Elliott, Vladimir Duthiers and Reena Ninan.
CBS News will begin its coverage on “CBS This Morning” at 7 a.m. ET and its comprehensive coverage and analysis beginning at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday, which will be led by Scott Pelley, Norah O’Donnell, John Dickerson, Gayle King, Charlie Rose, Elaine Quijano and Bob Schieffer.
The CBS News Decision Desk will make projections throughout the night. At the Decision Desk, CBS News elections director Anthony Salvanto and CBS News correspondent DeMarco Morgan will report on and analyze the races and provide the latest vote tallies and up-to-the-minute exit polling data as the races unfold.
In addition to the extensive correspondent team based around the country, correspondents Major Garrett will be stationed at Trump campaign headquarters and Nancy Cordes will be stationed at Clinton campaign headquarters.
Poll closing times in each state:
6 p.m. ET (2 states, 19 electoral votes)
Indiana (11 EVs) -- Some parts of the state close at 7 p.m.
Kentucky (8 EVs) -- -- Some parts of the state close at 7 p.m.
7 p.m. ET (4 states, 41 electoral votes)
Georgia (16 electoral votes)
South Carolina (9 EVs)
Vermont (3 EVs)
Virginia (13 EVs)
7:30 p.m. ET (3 states, 38 electoral votes)
North Carolina (15 EVs)
Ohio (18 EVs)
West Virginia (5 EVs)
8:00 p.m. ET (16 states + DC, 172 electoral votes)
Alabama (9 EVs)
Connecticut (7 EVs)
Delaware (3 EVs)
District of Columbia (3 EVs)
Florida (29 EVs)
Illinois (20 EVs)
Maine (4 EVs)
Maryland (10 EVs)
Massachusetts (11 EVs)
Mississippi (6 EVs)
Missouri (10 EVs)
New Hampshire (4 EVs)
New Jersey (14 EVs)
Oklahoma (7 EVs)
Pennsylvania (20 EVs)
Rhode Island (4 EVs)
Tennessee (11 EVs)
8:30 p.m. ET (1 state, 6 electoral votes)
Arkansas (6 EVs)
9 p.m. ET (14 states, 156 electoral votes)
Arizona (11 EVs)
Colorado (9 EVs)
Louisiana (8 EVs)
Kansas (6 EVs)
Michigan (16 EVs)
Minnesota (10 EVs)
Nebraska (5 EVs)
New Mexico (5 EVs)
New York (29 EVs)
North Dakota (3 EVs)
South Dakota (3 EVs)
Texas (38 EVs)
Wisconsin (10 EVs)
Wyoming (3 EVs)
10:00 p.m. ET (4 states, 21 electoral votes)
Iowa (6 EVs)
Montana (3 EVs)
Nevada (6 EVs)
Utah (6 EVs)
11:00 p.m. ET (5 states, 82 electoral votes)
California (55 EVs)
Hawaii (4 EVs)
Idaho (4 EVs)
Oregon (7 EVs)
Washington (12 EVs)
1:00am (1 state, 3 electoral votes)
Alaska (3 electoral votes)
→What: Election Day 2016
→ CBS News coverage begins with CBSN at 6 a.m. ET and will last until 4 a.m. ET, “CBS This Morning at 7 a.m. ET and the network’s live election night coverage from 7 p.m. until 2 a.m. ET
→ Where: Across the U.S.
→ When: Most polls open around 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. local time and most states close their polls at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. ET.
CBS News’ Steve Chaggaris, Catherine Cannon, Donald Judd, Katiana Krawchenko, Alex Romano, Nicole Sganga, Anthony Salvanto and Jennifer De Pinto contributed to this report.