Follow the US election in English (Updated)

Beginning this evening, voters in the United States will begin making their choice for president, a contest largely between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. The quickest, most up-to-date news will be in English so here is a chance for you to follow the news and improve your English at the same time.

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Follow the US election in English

Beginning this evening our time, voters in the United States will begin making their choice for president, a contest largely between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. The quickest, most up-to-date news will be in English so here is a chance for you to follow the news and improve your English at the same time.

I'll update this as events develop. Let's first get prepared by learning some of the key vocabulary you are likely to see in stories today and tomorrow, plus a little background

Getting ready

The two major candidates for president, Hillary Clinton, the nominee for the Democratic party, and Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, are attending their last campaign stops before voting begins this evening our time.

By now, most voters have made up their minds, so the candidates are focusing on the undecided voters, but more importantly, they and their teams are urging their supporters to go to the polls and cast their ballots. They want the highest possible turnout for their own side, but, unfortunately there may be attempts to discourage their opponents from voting through false advertising or even intimidation at the polling stations.

Both sides have teams of professionals and volunteers working to get eligible voters to the polls.  In the news business, we call this the "ground game". This is one area where Clinton is likely to have a significant advantage.

In the US presidential election, states, not the individual voters, determine the winner. Each state has a certain number of electoral votes, with the most heavily-populated states having the most. California has 55, Texas 38, New York, 29 while small states like North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming have only three. Although they may not realise it, voters actually choose electors pledged to their candidate who then cast the final vote.

You might expect that the candidates would spend most of their time in the big states, but they haven't. The reason is that the race for votes in many big states is not really close. Clinton should win California and New York easily while Trump should have little difficulty winning Texas.

Instead, for much of the campaign, the candidates have made most of their appearances in the so-called battleground states or swing states, states where the vote is likely to be close. Tomorrow morning there will be huge interest in the results from states like Florida (29 electoral votes) Pennslyvania (20), Ohio (18), Michigan (16), North Carolina (15), Colorado (9) Nevada (6) and New Hampshire (4)

In the news media, political reporters and analysts label the states something like this: solidly Democratic/Republican, leaning Democratic/Republican or toss-up. On maps, you will also see various shades of blue and red. Blue is the colour of the Democratic party and red is the Republican colour.

Going into the final day of campaigning, Hillary Clinton is a clear favourite, but, analysts caution that underdog Donald Trump is still close enough in the opinion polls that he could pull off an upset.

Describing the campaign

Most Americans will likely be happy when the election ends. The long bitter campaign between two of the least popular candidates in election history has been described as divisive, frustrating, even exasperating.

Both candidates have spent most of their time, it seems, attacking each other.

Trump has chastised Clinton as being corrupt – "crooked Hillary", he calls her – and lacking the stamina and judgment to be president. She works not for the American people, Trump says, but for special interests, donors to the Clinton family foundation and herself. Ms Clinton was the worst secretary of state in history.

Trump portrays himself as an outsider, a successful businessman who can fix the ailing economy and clean up the corrupt Washington establishment. He has carried on a running battle with the "crooked media" and warns the election is rigged against him and his supporters must be vigilant at polling stations where he expects massive voter fraud.

Clinton has not been shy in attacking Trump as a devious businessman, cheating contractors, bankrupting businesses and losing investors' money while enriching himself.

Clinton, hoping to be the first woman president, has accused Trump of disrespecting women, even going so far as to characterise him a sexual predator.

Although we haven't heard a lot of about the issues of the campaign, except for Clinton's alleged misuse of her email system while in government, both candidates do have policies.

Trump promises to make America great again, restoring the country's manufacturing base by renegotiating international trade deals which, he says, have seen US jobs go overseas, reviving US factories, restricting immigration and cleaning up Washington, including putting his opponent in jail.

A Clinton White House, on the other hand, would be more a continuation of the Obama administration which many American see as positive, having lowered unemployment, strengthened the economy and vastly increased those with health insurance. She has pledged to fix the weaknesses in Obama's programmes and get tougher in fighting America's war on terrorism.

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