From voting day to the inauguration A complete guide to the US election

The 60th US presidential election will decide the 47th president - widely held to be the most powerful job in the world - and 50th vice-president.

The candidates and their supporters are describing it as the most important election of their lifetimes, with democracy and the American way of life at stake. Record amounts have been raised and spent on campaign ads and street canvassing. Media coverage has never been more intense - or more polarised.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs along with 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate, which together will decide the membership of the 119th Congress. Thirteen state and territorial governorships and numerous other state and local elections will also take place. Voters in 41 states will consider a total of 159 ballot initiatives.

Ten states, including Arizona, Colorado and Florida, have abortion-related measures on the ballot. Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota are considering whether to legalise marijuana.

When do people vote?

It no longer makes sense to talk solely about 5 November as "election day". Tens of millions have voted early by mail or in person. Georgia's first day of early voting "shattered records", according to state officials, while an "unheard of" 97,000-plus voted on day one in Wisconsin. Democrats encouraged people to vote by mail in 2020 to avoid exposure to Covid-19 and fought legal battles to expand absentee voting. Trump, by contrast, falsely claimed that the practice was rife with fraud (it is extremely rare), although Republicans have since changed their messaging and increasingly embraced it. With the exception of Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire, all states give voters the chance to cast a ballot in person at a polling place before election day. Most states begin counting those ballots on election day, and some require officials to wait until polls are closed to begin counting.