Important dates in the US presidential race

US voters will go to the polls on Tuesday to cast their votes in the presidential election after a closely fought contest between Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and Republican former President Donald Trump.
Here is a timeline of events that will take place between now and Inauguration Day in January 2025.
Nov. 5: Election Day
Later in November: It could take days for the election result to be known, especially if it is close and mail-in ballots are a factor.
Nov. 26: Trump, the first sitting or former US president to be convicted of a crime, is due to be sentenced in a Manhattan hush money case where he was found guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star. Trump has denied wrongdoing. Sentencing was originally due to take place on Sept. 18.
Dec. 11: States must submit certified slates of presidential electors by this date to the Archivist of the United States as part of a federal 2022 law intended to avoid a repeat of the chaos after Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 defeat.
However, the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin failed to adopt the reforms, leaving their electoral systems — and a potentially decisive 29 of the 538 Electoral College votes — vulnerable to partisan lawsuits and political pressures that could force them to miss the deadline.
Dec. 17: Electors, who together form the Electoral College, meet in their respective states and the District of Columbia to select the president and vice president.
Dec. 25: The electoral votes must be received by this date by the president of the Senate – a role held by the vice president, currently Harris – and the Archivist.
2025
Jan. 6: The vice president presides over the Electoral College vote count at a joint session of Congress, announces the results and declares who has been elected.
Ahead of the count on Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Trump lambasted his vice president, Mike Pence, for refusing to try to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.
On that day, the US Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters trying to stop the count. Biden’s win was certified early the next day.
Congress has since passed reforms, which require approval of one-fifth of the House and Senate to consider a challenge to a state’s results – a much higher bar than existed before, when at least one member each in the Senate and the House of Representatives could together trigger a challenge.
Jan. 20: The president-elect and vice president-elect take their respective oaths of office during a swearing-in ceremony that is due to begin at 12:00 p.m. ET (1700 GMT).